JOHANNESBURG - Classified information allegedly leaked and used to sabotage Crime Intelligence could have been weaponised, depending on the agenda of a particular individual.
This is the view of criminologist Professor Nirmala Gopal, as Democratic Alliance MP Dianne Kohler Barnard is currently testifying before Parliament’s SAPS Ad Hoc Committee.
READ | LIVESTREAM | DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard faces SAPS Ad Hoc Committee
KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has told both the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and the Ad Hoc Committee that Kohler Barnard leaked classified information, allegedly undermining Crime Intelligence operations.
Mkhwanazi’s sharp rebuke stems from affidavits filed by Kohler Barnard in 2012, in which she accused him of covering up a deadly police shooting.
Professor Gopal said that, if Kohler Barnard did leak classified information, it would have posed serious risks.
“It could have targeted police officers and officials responsible for investigations. It is extremely risky, and I don’t think she had any clue of the potential consequences,” Gopal said.
Kohler Barnard has once again maintained that she never mishandled classified information, insisting that the information in question was already in the public domain.
She is now demanding an apology from Mkhwanazi.