John Matisonn: Why did Mchunu do it? The police dog that hasn’t barked (yet)

Key topics:Mchunu disbanded task team; reasons remain unclear and contradictoryConcerns cited: human rights, budget, declining political killingsQuestions on consultation with police top brass and political ties.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By John Matisonn.Even on the most generous interpretation of his days under questioning before the Madlanga Commission and parliament, an important part of the reason suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu disbanded the political killings task team remains unexplained.Some of his contradictory answers may have just been poor performance under sometimes below the belt pressure. For example, the atmosphere in the ad hoc parliamentary committee ridiculing KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas made it seem as if admitting he took her seriously was a sign of being duped by a busybody white lady.This may explain why he first said her entreaties for it to be disbanded had no influence on his decision, only to change his mind when it was apparent she had raised significant points he had to consider..Read more:.UPDATE: Police Minister Senzo Mchunu denies ties to tenderpreneur at heart of explosive SAPS corruption scandal.One of the most serious was his explanation that possible “human rights violations” by the task team caused him concern. That concern is entirely legitimate. Ask anyone following the police in the province and they’ll say the task team has a reputation for going into crime scenes, guns blazing. When the smoke clears, all the “suspects” are dead. Maybe that’s an unfair characterisation. But there is enough evidence by De Haas and others to warrant a police minister’s concern.But if that was a significant concern, why did he not raise it before? Surely that would be one of the best reasons for his action?Then there is his withering under questioning by Justice Madlanga, whose affable style belied a resilient insistence that Mchunu explain why he took the decision all alone.A decision of such importance surely would require input from the national police commissioner, the judge insisted? Surely he was best placed to advise on such a decision?The two were at a funeral together the day before Mchunu began his deliberation alone, the judge said. “It’s very strange that you did not mention it.”Human rights violations are not the only perhaps legitimate reason to close it. Though the numbers remain in dispute, it is clear political killings were much lower by the end of last year than when the task team was set up. Other witnesses have argued that its budget dwarfs those in much higher crime areas like the Cape flats.But here too Mchunu’s answers were murky. If it was a simple numbers issue, he should have come prepared, with simple charts showing before and after political murders figures, and budget comparisons with other higher murder rate districts? If Mchunu’s answers leave more questions, so too those of the national police commissioner, General Fanie Masemola, apparently his adversary in this saga. Masemola’s evidence was that he opposed the move, and tried to stall it to get a different outcome. But where was Masemola when 21 dockets on high priority murders were shuffling around Gauteng, and eventually back to KwaZulu-Natal where they came from after months in limbo? This is not how a competent police force operates. The police commissioner should be the first to ask: what has happened to the cases? Where are they, and who is running them in this interim period?None of the evidence shows that Mchunu was involved with organised crime, but we still don’t have a credible explanation for his actions. Perhaps he did not consult the police top brass because he did not trust them? That, too, would be cause for alarm. Remembering that Mchunu was the man who would be president, who survived the ups and downs of Zuma and Ramaphosa in the thicket of KwaZulu-Natal politics at the highest levels of premier and cabinet member, one cannot help thinking there is something we haven’t been told..Read more:.Commission to probe police scandal postponed amid procurement failures; top officials face sanctions.The most likely explanation may be the right one: that his relationship with Brown Mogotsi, which he deliberately underplayed when first asked, saying he’s “not my associate”, when they clearly had a relationship.Mogotsi is a political fixer who transfers money from tenderpreneurs of mixed morality to ANC campaigns. It is the area of our politics in most urgent need of reform, yet it’s the third rail no ANC leader will touch. That was the political sting in General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s tale.It’s the dog that hasn’t barked.

John Matisonn: Why did Mchunu do it? The police dog that hasn’t barked (yet)

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