Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee investigating explosive allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi will return to deliberations on its draft report on Monday evening, taking the inquiry closer to one of the most consequential moments in its investigation into alleged corruption and interference within South Africa’s criminal justice system.
The committee is scheduled to meet virtually at 6pm to continue deliberating on the draft report, Parliament confirmed on Monday.
The meeting comes after months of hearings and repeated disagreements among MPs over what findings the committee can make, who should be implicated in its conclusions and how far Parliament can go when dealing with allegations that have not yet been tested in a criminal court.
The committee was established to investigate allegations made by Mkhwanazi concerning corruption, political interference and the alleged infiltration of parts of the criminal justice system by criminal interests.
Its work has placed senior police officers, politicians, officials and other individuals under intense scrutiny.
But the move from hearing evidence to drafting findings has proved no less contentious.
Committee members have previously disagreed over whether the draft report adequately reflects the evidence heard during the inquiry and whether some recommendations or proposed findings have been diluted during successive revisions.
ANC MP Khusela Diko previously raised concerns that some of her party’s views and recommendations were not adequately reflected in a draft of the report, particularly in relation to evidence involving MPs and classified information.
Other disagreements have centred on how directly Parliament should deal with allegations against individuals who appeared before the committee.
The committee’s chairperson, Soviet Lekganyane, has previously warned that Parliament cannot afford to emerge from an inquiry of this magnitude without making meaningful findings where the evidence supports them.
At the same time, committee members have faced warnings that Parliament must remain within its mandate and avoid making determinations that effectively amount to criminal findings against people whose alleged conduct has not been adjudicated in court.
That tension is likely to remain central to Monday evening’s deliberations.
The draft report is particularly sensitive because of the potential implications of the committee’s recommendations.
Parliament cannot itself prosecute suspects or impose criminal penalties. But it can recommend that matters be referred to law-enforcement agencies, disciplinary bodies, regulatory institutions or other authorities for further investigation and action.
The committee could also make recommendations concerning weaknesses in policing, intelligence gathering, political oversight and the structures intended to protect the criminal justice system from corruption and improper influence.
The stakes are therefore considerably higher than the wording of a parliamentary report.
The committee’s final conclusions could shape what happens next to some of the allegations that emerged during its hearings and could determine whether further investigations are launched into individuals or institutions implicated during the inquiry.
Earlier deliberations also revealed divisions over allegations relating to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team.
Some political parties have argued for stronger findings, while others have rejected suggestions that the available evidence justifies conclusions that Mchunu was improperly influenced by outside figures when decisions concerning the task team were taken.
Those differences illustrate the difficulty facing the committee as it attempts to produce a report capable of securing support across a politically divided Parliament.
For Mkhwanazi, whose allegations triggered the inquiry, the draft-report stage represents the point at which months of testimony must now be converted into findings.
For Parliament, it is also a test of whether an inquiry into allegations of corruption and political interference can produce consequences beyond public hearings.
The committee’s deliberations on Monday evening will therefore be closely watched for signs of agreement or renewed conflict over the wording of the report, the strength of its findings and the recommendations it will ultimately make.
While the committee’s work is not yet complete, the inquiry has entered its most decisive phase.
The evidence has largely been heard. The central question now is what Parliament is prepared to say about it.
