In a series of email exchanges with Parliament and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has revealed that he has once again moved his family out of South Africa, citing what he describes as a credible and state-sanctioned plot to murder him.
The correspondence, sent throughout November and December 2025, details his absolute refusal to testify in person before an ad hoc parliamentary committee into allegations of capture of the criminal justice system.
On Thursday, MPs resolved that O’Sullivan, as well as alleged police informant Brown Mogotsi, will not be allowed to testify virtually – a decision O’Sullivan has since threatened to challenge in court.
He points to a recent murder, alleged public incitement against him by Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and an alleged long-standing “criminal enterprise” at the highest levels of the South African Police Service (SAPS).
O’Sullivan states his life is in danger because he is preparing to expose systemic graft involving top police officials. He accuses certain members of the parliamentary committee of being “accessories” to a conspiracy to have him killed.
The core of O’Sullivan’s communications is a flat refusal to appear physically before state enquiries, directly linking his decision to a climate of intimidation and violence.
“I think the murder of ‘Witness D’ stands as a stark reminder that the crooked police in our society are willing to go to any lengths to prevent themselves from being exposed and sent to prison,” O’Sullivan wrote in a December email.
A pivotal moment cited by O’Sullivan was testimony before the ad hoc committee on October 8, 2025, by Mkhwanazi. He attached a transcript in which Mkhwanazi stated, “But it is time that this country must not sit back and be run by Mr Paul O’Sullivan. And if the government fails to act on it, the men and women in this country are going to take it upon themselves to do something drastic about it… because he has gone too deep in showing that he’s got control all over.”
O’Sullivan interprets this as a direct threat: “What Mkhwanazi really meant is that he knows I know what crimes he has been committing, and he wants the people of South Africa to take me out.”
He claims this led to a flood of violent threats on social media, which he documented and sent to Parliament, accusing the committee of condoning the
behaviour.
“There can be no doubt in my mind that Mkhwanazi… and others are part of a sophisticated ‘criminal enterprise’, as defined in Poca (Prevention of Organised Crime Act), aimed at extracting millions each month from the Crime Intelligence slush fund,” he alleged.
He provided a financial analysis, claiming, “In 2012, the slush fund budget sat at R98-million. Today it sits at R600-million. That’s a growth of more than 500% during a period when cumulative inflation was only 112%. Much of the funds have been syphoned off to run the luxury lifestyle of SAPS management.”
His allegations reach back years, citing attached affidavits from former Ipid head Robert McBride and others that he claims implicate officials in serious crimes that have gone unpunished. “The state has known for some time that the senior management of the police is corrupt,” he asserted.
In his communications, O’Sullivan frames the committee’s insistence on in-person testimony as an unlawful act that violates his constitutional rights.
“For your committee to focus ONLY on whether I am there in person or virtually gives me an indication that someone on your committee is conspiring with Mkhwanazi to have me in the right place at the right time to be murdered,” he charged.
He warned the committee secretary, “If any attempt is made to unlawfully coerce me to testify in person so that I can be a target for murder, the e-mail chains with yourselves will be made public via the mainstream media, and you will be called out as accessories to conspiracy to commit murder.”
The committee secretary, Vhonani Ramaano, acknowledged receipt of several emails with the brief response, “Your email is noted.”
