Three days, a thousand shivers: Inside Mkhwanazi’s explosive testimony

The Madlanga commission has now been sitting for three days, hearing evidence from Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. So how is that going? Well, it sends shivers up your spine is how it’s going. Mkhwanazi is getting properly stuck in.

As he himself said during his evidence, quoting a Zulu saying, “I do not sneak up on a person, I face them directly”, before inviting South Africans to take off their takkies and put on their boots, “then face the enemy”.

His allegations are complex, but they come down to this: his minister Senzo Mchunu (now under suspension); his former boss and police commissioner Bheki Cele; various other senior police officers; members of parliament; even the judiciary and various journalists are trying to infiltrate the police. In the process they are suppressing investigations – including into political assassinations – and supporting known criminals in huge fraudulent tenders.

His testimony so far has been one stick of dynamite tossed into the national debate after another.

This is of course just mind-bogglingly scary – but it also implicitly answers a question: why have so few people involved and even named in apparent criminal activity not been arrested? The answer was never quite clear. It could have been that investigations were under way but not complete. It could have been that investigators themselves were just incompetent. But now, our worst suspicions seem the most likely to be correct.

The answer, if we are to believe Mkhwanazi, is becoming chillingly clear. Tacit co-operation between the political system and the investigatory system is actively preventing these prosecutions from taking place.

How is this actually happening? Mkhwanazi’s evidence seems to be that it happens through the use of intermediaries. The one he focuses on most adamantly is longtime ANC cadre Brown Mogotsi, a businessman from North West, where he ostensibly runs a bottle store and restaurant. He is alleged to be a “power broker”, someone who acts as an intermediary between political figures, notably Mchunu, and various elements in law enforcement and crime intelligence. Mkhwanazi has cited several occasions when Mogotsi apparently had classified information he could not possibly have obtained legally, and says that he even attended meetings with senior police officers.

It is known that Mogotsi was in regular contact with tenderpreneur “Cat” Matlala, who is currently under arrest. One of Matlala’s notable achievements was winning a R360m contract with the South African Police Service for medical assessments and wellness services for police members. That contract was later cancelled, reportedly over irregularities. Shocker.

Impressively courageous

What seems to have triggered Mkhwanazi was the disbanding of the political killings task team in KwaZulu-Natal for what he said were improper reasons. Mkhwanazi alleges that the decision to disband it was motivated by a desire to prevent investigations into criminal activity (by the syndicates) rather than because the unit was ineffective, and claims there was collusion or undue influence in that disbandment process. That claim does not seem beyond the realm of possibility.

So, one of the questions that now arises is how credible a witness Mkhwanazi has been. On the face of it, pretty impressive. He has been specific in his allegations, and he has made it clear what he knows and what he does not, always a good sign in a witness. He has been impressively non-partisan in his allegations against politicians, including National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams and DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard. He’s obviously smart, motivated and angry.

It’s possible of course, probable in fact, that his evidence will be contradicted. Most of the people he has cited have said they will come forward, so there is lots more evidence to come here. Adams and Kohler Barnard have already contradicted Mkhwanazi. We will have to see.

But in the meantime, you have to say, Mkhwanazi has the makings of an extraordinary hero. He is explicitly taking on people who he believes were involved in a large number of political assassinations that have taken place over the past few years. If nothing else, that is impressively courageous.

The old saying goes, “Fortune favours the brave.” For all our sakes, let’s hope so.

_{Top image: KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius.}