Masemola says Mchunu’s disbandment bid ‘encroached’ on his powers
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that he believes Police Minister Senzo Mchunu overstepped his authority by ordering the disbandment of the KZN Political Killings Task Team.
"It is a task team that is working at a lower level under a provincial commissioner. If you ever have found anything wrong with the task team, you could say I think you need to disband it, and we can engage in terms of the why and how and so on,” Masemola said on Monday.
The country’s top cop began his testimony at the Madlanga Commission on Monday morning by outlining his career in the police service.
"When a commission of inquiry, such as the Malanga Commission, is convened to investigate matters of national importance, it involves allegations of misconduct, failures in the organisational oversight or systemic challenges within SAPS, there is no doubt that I must participate actively,” he told the commission.
He said this is why he's decided to testify.
"The benefits of participating in the commission are not to provide my account of interactions with Minister Mchunu on the issues forming part of this subject matter for determination herein only, but also hope that the commission's findings and recommendations will lead to improved governance."
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He explained the three pillars of the criminal justice system: the police, the National Prosecuting Authority, and the Department of Correctional Services.
Commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked Masemola to clarify the distinction between policy directions and operational or managerial matters.
It relates to Police Minister Mchunu's instruction to disband the team last year.
Masemola's statement said Mchunu's order strayed into operational or managerial matters. He told the commission that the minister is responsible for national policing, and priorities like gangsterism and cash-in-transit heists.
Masemola explained that he would deal with operational matters and functions like deployment.
"To go further. To say disbanded, but then after saying disband, then you go further to say, 'Now, now’, not even tomorrow. I think that is totally encroachment into the mandate of the national commissioner in terms of performance of my duty."
KZN's police chief, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, claims the team's disbandment is linked to their discovery of a well-connected criminal syndicate.
