A MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard giving evidence before the Ad Hoc Committee. Image:Image: Zwelethemba Kostile / Parliament of RSA DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard said on Thursday KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi owed her an apology for making allegations against her in connection with classified information. Testifying before the Ad Hoc Committee, Kohler-Barnard said Mkhwanazi’s theory centred on the fact that she was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence (JSCI).
“Once I corrected that erroneous belief, I felt he owed me an apology because you can’t leak out of a committee that does not exist. “I was not happy that I have been labeled basically a criminal when in fact I believed I was doing my job, every MP has to do, which is an oversight role. The biggest role we play is doing oversight over entities in committees we work in.
It’s our job,” she said. Kohler-Barnard also said Mkhwanazi has not made contact with her since he made the allegations. “He has my phone number.
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He could have asked before hand. He chose not to, so we do have some history but he had no intention of ever discussing it with me.” Asked by ANC MP Khusela Sangoni-Diko about the history she referred to, Kohler-Barnard said she previously reported him to the Office of the Public Protector and called for his removal from office. “I think he took it very personal.
That is the only reason I can think of for his particular attack,” she said. Kohler-Barnard was giving testimony after Mkhwanazi at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and the Ad Hoc Committee accused her of taking things that belonged in JSCI and asked them through an open committee such as the Police Portfolio Committee. Mkhwanazi was concerned that she asked parliamentary questions as an MP about procurement of Crime Intelligence properties that should have been asked in the JSCI.
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