Human rights activist Mary de Haas has accused parliament of ignoring her warnings that former police minister Bheki Cele interfered in the work of the political killings task team (PKTT), which was established seven years ago to investigate politically motivated murders in KwaZulu-Natal.
De Haas, an honorary research fellow in the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s school of law, said she first alerted parliament to Cele taking operational control of the task team through one of his subordinates, Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, in 2021. She told MPs that this amounted to political interference in criminal investigations.
In her 2021 letter to the parliament’s portfolio committee on police, seen by Sunday World, De Haas accused Cele of “grossly irregular and possibly criminal conduct” in his management of the unit, and warned that his hands-on role in politically charged investigations risked shielding his own ANC colleagues from scrutiny.
“Minister Cele continues to control the ministerial task team into political killings in KZN through his proxy, Gen Khumalo,” she wrote.
“He reports to the minister directly and not to the national commissioner. As you will know, minister Cele is a very senior member of the ANC in KZN, so he is, in effect, controlling investigations into killings in which his own colleagues may be suspects.”
She warned parliament that Cele’s hands-on approach blurred the lines between political power and policing.
“Parliament has been very remiss in allowing a minister of police, especially a prominent, senior politician in a province known for its political violence and murders, to head a team investigating these killings,” she wrote. “Is it not obvious that a minister should have no personal insight into dockets relating to matters in which his long-standing political colleagues may be implicated?”
At the time, Cele was chairperson of the interministerial committee appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to guide law-enforcement agencies on combating political killings.
Under its direction, police established the PKTT in 2018 to coordinate investigations into politically motivated murders in KZN. The PKTT’s existence, however, later became a matter of controversy, which has resulted in judicial enquiry and a parliamentary investigation, for various reasons.
Her criticism has again come under the spotlight before the ad hoc committee probing allegations by Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, KwaZulu-Natal’s police commissioner.
On special leave police minister Senzo Mchunu told MPs that De Haas’s research and submissions partly informed his decision to disband the PKTT, while Cele admitted that she had been calling for its disbandment for years. To this effect, Cele told the committee, “There is only one source that I know has a problem with the PKTT. It’s Aunt Mary,” Cele said. “That is the only source I know.”
Cele seemed to believe De Haas was the actual force behind Mchunu’s decision, which now distresses the academic, given that her correspondence to parliament has been given the cold shoulder. During his appearances in October, Cele told the committee that De Haas had written to national police commissioner Lt-Gen Fannie Masemola in January, asking why he had not disbanded the PKTT as per Mchunu’s directive.
“When I saw this letter, I said, ‘This can’t be.’ There are three elements there, which include border issues and Crime Intelligence. The real one that has taken centre stage is the PKTT,” Cele told MPs. “On 22 January, Mary de Haas writes a letter to the commissioner, asking him if the disbandment is done. I have seen Mary driving the process of the disestablishment of this [task team]. I don’t know what her interests are.”
De Haas says history is repeating itself. Last month, she wrote twice to the ad hoc committee investigating Mkhwanazi’s explosive claims, first on October 15, then on October 30, copying the Speaker of Parliament, but was ignored.
Her latest correspondence, also viewed by Sunday World, reveals not only her frustration but also her concern for her safety. She objected to reports that parliament might display her photograph during hearings so witnesses could “identify” her, calling the move reckless.
Speaking to Sunday World this week, De Haas said the silence from parliament shows a consistent failure of oversight.
“I put the illegal tactics used by that team on record with parliament a few years ago, plus Cele’s operational involvement, but the police committee failed in its oversight. Everything I wrote to minister Cele was copied to them, and I never got even any acknowledgement.”
