By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Kwazulu/Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has filed a R5 million defamation lawsuit against forensic investigator Paul O’sullivan.
The summons were filed at the Johannesburg High Court.
In the summons, Mkhwanazi lists three instances in which O’Sullivan, through media outlets, made damning allegations against him.
O’Sullivan has denounced Mkhwanazi after he made damning allegations against suspended minister of police Senzo Mchunu and Deputy Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya in July.
Mkhwanazi questioned Mchunu’s decision to disband the political killings task team without informing the national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, and himself as the provincial police commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal.
The task team, established in 2018, was a multidisciplinary unit focusing on politically motivated killings and related crimes in KwaZulu-Natal.
Reacting to Mkhwanazi’s press briefing, an unimpressed O’Sullivan told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the provincial police commissioner had overstepped.
“The reality of the situation is, he has overstepped his mark. It is not the job of the provincial commissioner to start accusing the government, the judiciary, the National Prosecuting Authority and the minister of police for that matter of being criminals. That is what he did today, and I want to see that man fall and the sooner the better.”
The forensic investigator also took issue with Mkhwanazi wearing the uniform of the SAPS Special Task Force.
Mkhwanazi said, he requested O’Sullivan to publicly retract his allegations and apologise, which he failed to do so.
Meanwhile MK Party, Jacob Zuma have filed an urgent application in the Gauteng High Court to interdict the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, which is scheduled to begin in Pretoria on 17 September.
The commission, chaired by retired Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, is investigating serious allegations involving senior government figures, the police and the judiciary.
The party argues the inquiry is unconstitutional, politically motivated, and a waste of public funds.
They claim that President Cyril Ramaphosa should have simply dismissed Mchunu instead of launching a costly judicial process.
The party further accuses government of deliberately scheduling the inquiry to start a day before the court hears their application – undermining its urgency.