By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
The KwaZulu-Natal-based researcher and crime activist Professor Mary de Haas was grilled over her role in the directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) when Parliament’s police inquiry resumed on Tuesday.
The ad hoc committee inquiry continued after prematurely ending its hearing with Minister Senzo Mchunu’s chief of staff, Cedric Nkabinde, last week after he gave conflicting evidence.
De Haas took the stand to testify before the ad hoc committee investigating allegations of police corruption and interference after being mentioned by several witnesses, including KZN provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
De Haas has monitored and researched political violence in KwaZulu-Natal since the 1980s and has built a vast network of contacts through this, including police officers.
Her research methods combine academia, gleaning information via the media and personal communications.
MPs seemed unimpressed with the details she was providing them with, saying it came across as hearsay, which she said was not the way she viewed the information.
De Haas was previously mentioned when others testified before Parliament’s ad hoc committee.
This was largely because of her dealings with police and her stance on KwaZulu-Natal’s Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), which became a key point of controversy in the overall law enforcement scandal that is still developing.
“I see people dying and the police doing nothing and yet we’re spending money on this team,” De Haas told MPs.
During her testimony, De Haas told MPs she was not sure how the PKTT, which she believed former police minister Bheki Cele “drove”, defined the cases it dealt with.
Mchunu issued a highly controversial directive, on 31 December 2024 while he was police minister, to disband it.
His directive was never followed through with – it previously emerged that senior police bosses did not support Mchunu’s plan.
Mkhwanazi sparked the law enforcement scandal, into which the PKTT now fits, a few months ago when alleging a drug cartel had infiltrated policing and politics.
David Skosana of the MK party asked De Haas if she believed Mkhwanazi was credible, she replied, “I don’t believe he is.”
Asked the same about former Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo (who appeared to be aligned with Mkhwanazi), De Haas responded, “Nope, definitely not.”
She also said that National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola had perjured himself in Parliament in 2022 when he “lied” about Patricia Mashale.
De Haas had heard that she was viewed as having prompted Mchunu to order the PKTT’s disbandment, which she dismissed as “nonsense”.
She referenced unrest in July 2021, which saw more than 300 people killed in KwaZulu-Natal when riots broke out over the temporary detention of former president Jacob Zuma.
De Haas said she had been told that intelligence, instead of being bolstered, had deteriorated in KwaZulu-Natal since then.
She testified that the province was violent and, aside from that, that there were some individuals she had angered.
De Haas also mentioned various sources who had provided her with information, but she did not provide all their names, saying reasons for this include to ensure their safety.
The ANC’s Xola Nqola put it to her that the statement she submitted to the ad hoc committee looked like it contained lots of hearsay because it referenced what other people had said or told her.
De Haas replied, “For me, it’s not hearsay.”
During the question-and-answer session with MPs, De Haas was also asked what legal authority she had to intimately involve herself with policing matters. She said she was a human rights defender, which was an internationally recognised position.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.