The MK Party picketed outside the Bridgitte Mabandla Justice College in Tshwane on Wednesday, calling for a halt to the Madlanga Commission whose hearings are being conducted there.
MK Party Gauteng Provincial Spokesperson Abel Tau told Tshwane Talks during the picketing that MK Party presently has a case against the establishment of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and that the case is due in the Pretoria High Court on Thursday.
“In our case in court we are saying the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint Firoz Cachalia as Acting Minister of Police is irrational as we believe that the President should have fired the beleaguered Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu outright instead of putting him on a leave of absence,” explained Tau.
“South Africa can’t afford a R147 million bill just to decide whether people must be charged or not,” he said.
“We believe that President Cyril Ramaphosa is not making decisions that are in the best interests of the country in this regard and we are therefore picketing out here to register our opposition to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry,” he said.
Tau insisted that the country’s Judiciary has been implicated by Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi “and can therefore not investigate itself as that implies that the Judiciary is a player and a referee at the same time, and as MK Party we believe this scenario is highly irregular.”
He lamented the fact that the decision by Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga to start the Commission of Inquiry on a Wednesday is something that has never happened in South Africa as such hearings normally begin on a Monday, and asserted that the decision was made to sabotage the MK Party’s pending court case against the Commission.
He said Justice Madlanga is not serving the interests of the country but wants to protect those who are close to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Tau said there is prima facie evidence against those implicated by Mkhwanazi and that they should be charged in a criminal court of law and that the best platform to make enquiries on this matter would be the ad-hoc Parliamentary Portfolio Committee.
He said the R147 million that is going to be spent on the Madlanga Commission should instead be spent in areas where there is underspending by the government; namely higher education and policing.
He emphasised that President Cyril Ramaphosa is not fit to lead the country as he is forever surprised and makes irrational decisions that are not in the interest of South Africa.
“We have zero-hope in this Commission as it is only going to whitewash the damning evidence that is there, while extending the hearings and overspending on the budget that has been allocated to it,” enthused Tau.
Meanwhile, #NotInMyName Secretary General Themba Masango, who also attended the hearings, told Tshwane Talks that he hoped the truth will come out regarding what is happening in the corridors of power in the country.
“Even though the price tag of the Commission has been reduced to R147 million, it is still too high, but we take solace in the fact that the truth will eventually come out in public so that the citizens of South Africa will get to hear what is actually happening in their country because crime and corruption affect people on the ground economically and socially with people ending up without jobs and not affording to meet their daily needs, so we hope that if there are perpetrators of corruption in the criminal justice system, then those perpetrators will face the full might of the law,” said Masango as he in the process indicated that the amount of money that is going to be spent on the Commission would be better spent in spheres like SITAs, agriculture and education.
Nico Masango of Mamelodi told Tshwane Talks that he came to the hearings to support Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as he has been brave to reveal the shenanigans taking place in the criminal justice system of South Africa.
He said Mkhwanazi’s brave actions will give courage to other people in different spheres of life, including in the criminal justice system, to speak out against corruption.
“If the R147 million that is going to be used in the Commission is going to help us get to know the truth about the criminal justice system, then I don’t have a problem at all with that amount,” he said.
Petrus Chauke from Mabopane said Mkhwanazi is a man of God who dislikes corruption and that he would vote for him to become the President of South Africa.