The Ad Hoc Committee to Investigate Allegations made by the South African Police Service KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, elected Mr Molapi Soviet Lekganyane as its chairperson yesterday and immediately set to work.
The committee was established following General Mkhwanazi’s allegations and is empowered by National Assembly rule 253. The committee is tasked with investigating the veracity and implications of Gen Mkhwanazi’s allegations relating to organs of state and criminal syndicates operating in South Africa.
Mr Lekganyane said in his opening remarks that the matters before the committee are of grave concern. “Wherever there would have been unscrupulous activities, South Africans would want us to rise to the occasion and unearth it,” he said.
In its first meeting, the committee agreed that the draft terms of reference guiding its work should be finalised by Friday, 8 August, and committee members will be able to make inputs on the terms of reference before that date. The committee also directed Parliament’s Legal Services to ensure that all procedural matters and the rights of citizens are protected.
Several committee members were also in favour of having a committee sitting in Gauteng in August, as Parliament is currently on recess. This would make it easier for any witnesses to testify.
Opposition parties voiced their unhappiness at having an African National Congress (ANC) member elected as the chairperson of the committee, saying this would not improve public trust in the committee’s processes. In addition, committee member Mr Julius Malema said that the Economic Freedom Fighters, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and ActionSA are dissatisfied about the election of a chairperson from political parties comprising the Government of National Unity (GNU). Mr Malema also indicated that he was not available for the chairperson position.
Later in the meeting, committee member Ms Dereleen James said it would have been more fitting to elect someone from a party whose members are not implicated in the allegations. “How do we garner public trust here this morning when we have a chairperson that has been elected from the very party where all of these people come from?” she questioned. Another committee member, Ms Leigh-Ann Mathys, agreed saying the election was an opportunity missed by the GNU partners. She noted her party’s request that GNU partners abstain from voting on electing the chairperson.
Mr Lekganyane said the role of the committee is to unearth the truth about the allegations and to provide a way forward for Parliament. The committee will meet next week to further discuss its terms of reference and programme.
Rajaa Azzakani
6 August 2025
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