Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi can't wait until Tuesday to sing like a canary.
The KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner who came in for a drubbing this week at the SA Human Rights Commission told the Sunday Times he plans to tell the “real” story to the investigative hearing into the July unrest that claimed more than 300 lives.
On Monday, former defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula painted the picture that Mkhwanazi had frustrated the efforts of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) when it was deployed to KwaZulu-Natal to support the South African Police Service (SAPS) as it failed to control riots which led to death, devastation and widespread looting.
“I am going there on Tuesday and I am going to say what happened. I am going to tell the real story. I don’t want to elaborate now. She [Mapisa-Nqakula] was at the commission. She said things about me. I am going to the commission on Tuesday and I am going to say what happened,” said Mkhwanazi.
Mapisa-Nqakula told the commission, which is sitting in Umhlanga, that she was forced to deploy “generals” instead of colonels due to “an ego”.
She said that at a meeting in KwaZulu-Natal during the unrest she was confused when Mkhwanazi withheld information and “spoke about a challenge” that had nothing to do with the riots.
She said the meeting “digressed and was diverted into discussing other concerns that had nothing to do with what we were in KwaZulu-Natal about”.
Mapisa-Nqakula testified that Mkhwanazi had shown signs of disrespect to the ministers who had arrived in the province to deal with the unrest.
In response to a question from evidence leader advocate Smanga Sethene about why she didn't take action when “the country was burning” and “information was being concealed”, she said it would have been police minister Bheki Cele's job to take Mkhwanazi to task for his disrespect.
SAPS spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo told the Sunday Times police had not received any formal complaint against any SAPS member regarding the July unrest. “I can therefore confirm that the SAPS has not instituted any departmental action against any of its members in this regard. The investigation by SA Human Rights Commission is continuing and it would be premature to comment on testimonies provided so far.”
Cele is expected to testify soon.
Mapisa-Nqakula testified that the police had not called for the army to be deployed, and that President Cyril Ramaphosa asked her to send in the troops.
She said that after her conversation with Ramaphosa she contacted Cele to co-sign orders for the deployment.
During Mapisa-Nqakula's testimony, the commission asked her to read from a letter submitted by Cele, who said he had not received any early warning intelligence reports from the national police commissioner, Gen Khehla Sitole, about the unrest.
“The office of the minister, and the minister himself, did not receive any such early warning intelligence from the South African Police Service. The office has subsequently learned that this report was seemingly distributed to, inter alia, the national commissioner Gen Sitole; Lt-Gen Fannie Masemola, the deputy national commissioner for policing; and senior managers within the division Crime Intelligence,” Cele wrote.
Sitole had testified that an early warning had been issued.
“The unrest in July started with the execution of the Constitutional Court order. There was a fully fledged operation plan. There was an early warning issued. Because the modus operandi was not known, there was no contingency plan put into place.”
Supporters of Jacob Zuma plunged KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng into looting and destruction from July 8 to 18 after the former president was jailed by the Constitutional Court.
The unrest reportedly claimed 359 lives, but Sitole told the SAHRC that the death toll had not yet been finalised.
KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala told the commission on Friday that before the outbreak of violence no information was received from any crime intelligence structure, such as the State Security Agency, on the threats in KwaZulu-Natal.
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