ANC chief whip urges probe into alleged links between Senzo Mchunu and Brown Mogotsi

ANC Chief Whip Mdumiseni Ntuli has urged the Ad Hoc Committee to recommend an investigation into alleged links between suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and alleged political fixer Brown Mogotsi, according to IOL.

Ntuli says evidence remains inconclusive

According to IOL, Ntuli told the committee that the evidence of a corrupt relationship between Mchunu and Mogotsi remained unproven and inconclusive, and he characterised much of it as speculation rather than substantive proof.

“It relies largely on what one can only call speculation and conjecture, not necessarily substantive evidence, which we can stand on to confirm, indeed, that the two gentlemen, the minister and Mr Mogotsi, have entered into some corrupt relationship,” Ntuli said, according to IOL.

Ntuli qualified that further probing might be necessary.

“Of course, I qualify my statement that it may, however, be necessary if further investigation is carried out to determine if there is any link between the minister and Mr Brown Mogotsi,” he said, according to IOL.

He suggested the Ad Hoc Committee could decide which state agencies would be appropriate to pursue deeper inquiries once the committee had finished its work, noting that such investigations might go beyond what the committee itself could undertake.

Committee deliberations and next steps

According to IOL, the Ad Hoc Committee was deliberating a preliminary draft report. Committee chair Soviet Lekganyane told members they had time to make inputs and that, after finalisation this week, the draft would be sent to affected parties for a 10-day comment period before the committee returns for final adoption.

Once adopted, the report will be sent to the Office of the Speaker, who will refer it to the National Assembly for consideration, IOL reported. Lekganyane also said committee members would not speak publicly about the report until the Speaker officially tables it.

Other findings and criticisms recorded by the committee

According to IOL, Ntuli criticised Mchunu for issuing a directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) without meaningful consultation, saying the ministry’s reasons for disbanding the unit were not supported by a sequence of well-grounded facts.

Ntuli also told the committee that the allegation Mchunu was a member of a so-called Big 5 criminal syndicate was not sustained by the evidence before the committee, and that evidence on the existence and coordination of the Big 5 was inconclusive.

“We can’t stand up and firmly say with certainty that the Big 5 exists as it was argued before us,” Ntuli said, according to IOL.

Calls for accountability over testimony

According to IOL, ActionSA MP Dereleen James said any witness reasonably suspected of having misled the committee should be referred to the appropriate authorities for investigation and prosecution.

EFF MP Leigh-Ann Mathys told the committee they had encountered witnesses whose sworn affidavits differed from their oral testimony and called for Parliament to pursue perjury charges where testimonies conflicted. Mathys urged a process to identify such cases and said,

“We must open cases of perjury and courts decide who perjured themselves,”

according to IOL.