PRETORIA - The KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) was a product of continued political bloodshed according to provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
He has revealed this on the first day of his testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
READ | Madlanga Commission | Mkhwanazi: Political interference, corruption paralysing SAPS
Taking centre stage in the hearings is the formation of the PKTT.
Mkhwanazi says KZN has always been a problematic province when it comes to political violence, which “dates back to the days before democratic South Africa”.
“That problem remained, although we had subsided prior to the establishment of the task team. It started rising again, and we started seeing the leaders of our country being attacked in different levels. This then necessitated an intervention from the SAPS and the executive in terms of trying to mitigate the threat to our political leaders,” he says.
Mkhwanazi testified that the first special police team to deal with these killings was formed in 2011, when political killings started to flare up.
He also says the intraparty political killings in the province, led to the establishment of the Moerane Commission.
It was that commission which found that some of the killings were linked to corruption within local government, especially tenders.
“That corruption became the centre of these incidents, including threats, attempted murders, as well as murders. The Key recommendations of the commission brought about the creation of independent structures, which included having a designated focus from the SAPS in terms of the investigation of these cases. This is why the SAPS responded by creating a team,” he testified
By 2018, with killings continuing Mkhwanazi says President Cyril Ramaphosa decided the police needed help.
“It was then important, from the President’s point of view, that the police must not work alone. Therefore, the police must put their efforts together with other ministers within the cluster in order to be able to have a focused intervention in terms of trying to mitigate these incidents of political killings,” he says.
Another key point Mkwanazi touched on was the successes of the PKTT, which saw the unit expand beyond KZN to the Eastern Cape where it also conducted investigations.
The commission continues on Thursday.