Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC MP Soviet Lekganyane has dismissed concerns about his ability to be impartial when leading the ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption in the police service, where the ANC’s suspended police minister, Senzo Mchunu, is implicated.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made serious allegations against senior law enforcement officials, including Mchunu, accusing him of interfering in police investigations and colluding with businesspeople to disband the political killings task team in KZN.
An ad hoc committee consisting of members from different parties was appointed to investigate Mkhwanazi’s allegations, with Lekganyane elected to lead the committee on Tuesday during the first meeting in parliament. His appointment was criticised by opposition parties, which raised concerns about him probing the allegations against a senior member of his party.
ActionSA MP Dereleen James argued Lekganyane’s appointment could compromise public trust in the committee.
“How do we garner public trust when we have a chairperson who has been elected from the very party where most of these people are embroiled?” James said.
“How does that make the public feel to know that we have a member from the same family where all these people come from?”
EFF leader Julius Malema, who declined the nomination to chair the committee, said the problem was not Lekganyane but the party he represents.
“There’s a difference between not being happy with the ANC occupying the position of chairperson and the person occupying the position of chairperson,” Malema said. “An impression must not be created that we have a problem with you; we have a problem with the ANC occupying that position.”
In an interview with the SABC, Lekganyane said he should not be judged based on his political affiliation.
“Allegations made by Mkhwanazi are not against the ANC; they are only made against one member of the ANC, and others whose political organisations we don’t know,” he said.
“Let us not put the cart before the horse because we are going to invite Mkhwanazi before the committee, and we don’t know [what will come out] as he will be expounding on the allegations.”
Lekganyane added that many ANC MPs and chairpersons have been robust in terms of doing oversight work, without taking sides with fellow members. He said all committee members should be treated fairly, emphasising that the whole committee has a responsibility to ensure it maintains its own integrity.
“Everyone in the committee is the right appointment in parliament, and it’s not our responsibility to impugn each other’s qualities and personalities.
“What must unite us is what we can do for the people of South Africa. We see that as a challenge, not only to the chairperson and members of the ANC but to all members of the committee, to say that South Africans expect us to exhibit high moral rectitude and unimpeachable integrity. Those are the buzzwords that should run through the whole proceedings.”
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