Africa-Press – South-Africa. KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi spoke out about the alleged political interference of former police minister Nathi Mthethwa in the SAPS a few days before his death on Tuesday.
During his testimony at the Madlanga commission of inquiry into allegations of criminality, corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system on September 19, Mkhwanazi implicated Mthethwa in political interference.
He accused Mthethwa of using his powers to try to stop the prosecution of former crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli.
He said at the time, Mthethwa called him to his home in Waterkloof and accused him of forcing the former inspector general of intelligence, Adv Faith Radebe, to write a letter to take the matter to court.
“I told the minister that Radebe is an old woman; how can I point a gun at her and force her to write a letter? Besides, when this letter was written, it was written in her office and she actually is not the author of the letter. The author of the letter is Adv Jay Govender, who is an experienced prosecutor working in that office.”
Mkhwanazi said he tried to explain that to Mthethwa, but the minister did not want to hear any of that.
“He simply said we must stop prosecuting Mdluli and stop the disciplinary case against Mdluli. If you talk about political interference, that was the worst I’ve ever experienced,” Mkhwanazi said.
Mkhwanazi claimed Mthethwa tried to use his position and experience to take advantage of him, as he was new to the role he was assigned to as acting national police commissioner.
“At that time, I came from a specialised operation; the only thing I knew was how to chase criminals, and I was promoted to become national commissioner.
“Confronted with this. I said: ‘This is not what I signed up for when I joined the police; this can’t be right. The minister can’t be giving me these instructions.’ Then I said to the minister, ‘You brought me into this position, and you thought you were going to use me as a pawn, perhaps because of age or whatever, but you are wrong. I’m not going to do that.’”
Mthethwa, who was serving as South Africa’s ambassador to France, died on Tuesday by what is believed to be suicide. His body was reportedly found outside a hotel building in Paris after disappearing at about 3pm on Monday. His wife was believed to have reported his disappearance to the police days before his death.
French authorities are investigating the circumstances leading up to his death.
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