KwaZulu-Natal acting deputy provincial commissioner Major-General Anthony Gopaul testified on Monday that suspended Police MinisterSenzo Mchunuvisited a police station while wearing ANC regalia and demanded swift action in cases involving a ward councillor who had defected to the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party. Gopaul was giving evidence at theMadlanga Commissionwhich is investigating claims of political interference in policing functions made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissionerNhlanhla Mkhwanazi.The inquiry resumed on Monday after a break late last year. Gopaul said Mchunu arrived at a local police station and called for investigations into cases involving Doshie Govender, including the immediate arrest of his son in connection with a housebreaking case.
“I explained to the minister that whilst we wanted to assist him, the difficulty was that it was unclear in what capacity he approached us,” Gopaul said. He told the commission that Mchunu was wearing an ANC T-shirt and that “his comrades placed him in a predicament and wanted to see basically how he uses that position”. “The minister was of the opinion that the community has a sense of frustration that we are doing nothing about Mr Govender and his son’s behaviour,” said Gopaul.
He said he informed Mchunu that the housebreaking case had been withdrawn because the witness statement was no longer admissible. Gopaul said “it was slightly uncomfortable” that the entire community was suddenly angry with “somebody who had won the previous landslide elections”, adding that Mchunu’s complaints related only to Govender, which was unusual. He said it was “a bit odd and mischievous” that Govender’s alleged criminal conduct was raised only after he had defected from the ANC to the MK party.
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“According to the minister, the police officers were doing nothing until we unpacked each and every case that the particular candidate was charged for previously and the outcomes of those cases, and there [were] no new cases,” he said. Gopaul also testified about a separate interaction with Mchunu after the killing of Mandeni local municipality ward councillor Phendukani Mabhida, who was shot by unknown gunmen at his home in KwaSithebe township. He said Mchunu contacted him after the shooting and was briefed on what had occurred. The matter was initially investigated by a political killings task team that has been at the centre of the inquiry, an arrangement Mchunu questioned.
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