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Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. Picture: Gallo Images/Die Burger/Lulama Zenzile
Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo, the divisional commissioner of crime intelligence, failed to impress some portfolio committee members on police when he painted a positive picture of the political killings task team on Wednesday.
Some members dismissed some of his assertions, particularly with regard to the political killing task team.
The task team was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018 due to the escalation of politically related incidents in KwaZulu-Natal.
Its purpose is to ensure perpetrators of politically related incidents in KZN are brought to book.
According to Khumalo, the team has 96 members, 23 of which are investigating officers.
Since its inception on 5 July 2018, it has dealt with 333 dockets of cases, including 134 cases that were reported between 2011 and June 2018 before its commencement.
Other cases include 171 murders, 50 attempted murders, 79 intimidation, 9 conspiracy to commit murder and 24 other cases.
R415 million was spent on the team since 2018.
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Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has issued a directive to the national commissioner regarding the disestablishment of the team. It will transition into the murder and robbery unit within the Saps.
Fadiel Adams of the National Coloured Congress welcomed the development, seemingly unconvinced of the team’s successes.
He said although the Saps was battling fake news about its internal matters on social media, no one took the force seriously anymore.
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“I agree that a lot of what is being said on social media about Saps is false, but we just don’t care anymore because a lot of people just don’t take Saps seriously anymore,” said Adams.
He accused the team of picking and choosing cases to work on, avoid those that would expose members in Crime Intelligence.
“The R415 million that is being spent on the political killings task team for 170 murders is disgraceful, and I’ll tell you where that money comes from because the slides only gave us very scant details,” said Adams.
“These people were being housed in five-star hotels and lodges. The political killing task team is nothing more than a terror group. Why is the murder of Sindiso Magaqa not being investigated by this team? Because that murder will place the AK-47 that was used to kill this poor man back into Crime Intelligence. That weapon was bought with state money.
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“The political killing task team, with all this money on their hands and all this time, does not investigate the murder of a young black man who stood up to corruption in KZN. They nitpick their cases.”
Khumalo said he could not share more information on some of the cases because confidential information was involved.
“One has to start by apologising because of the system. It will always be difficult to explain issues thoroughly because of the kind of arrangements that are applied in this division where we are using both overt and covert methodologies and accounting,” said Khumalo.
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“Some of the issues cannot be clearly explained and understood if we move towards one stream. It makes sense when one has a clear understanding of the other covert stream.”
He further dismissed Adams’ claims that nothing was being done about Maqaga’s murder
“It is not true that the case has not been moving. Since 2019, there were a number of accused that were charged in that case. As we speak, the matter is on trial,” said Khumalo.
The trial will commence in August.
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