News24 | Masemola tells MPs of ‘outside parallel structures that want to take charge’ of him

National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola is testifying before the parliamentary ad hoc committee established to investigate allegations of criminal infiltration within the police service.

• National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola is testifying before the parliamentary ad hoc committee established to investigate allegations of criminal infiltration within the police service.
• He told the committee that several outside players are trying to influence him and others are trying to remove him from his position.
• Masemola also said, despite the challenges, there are no crises in the police.

National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola has told Parliament there are gangs “of people who know the system” that are trying to gain control and influence his position in the police.

Ordinarily, these groups would devise plans to influence or remove the national commissioner – despite being appointed only by the president.

Masemola testified on Thursday before the parliamentary ad hoc committee established to investigate allegations of criminal infiltration within the police service.

Advocate Norman Arendse, the committee’s evidence leader, questioned Masemola on his position.

Said Masemola: “The president appointed the national commissioner, and you do the work, but there will be outside parallel structures that would want to take charge of the national commissioner. If they can’t, they will find ways. So, actually, from day one, when you get appointed, there are already those that are working day and night.”

READ | Mchunu’s chief of staff ‘fears’ for his life after armed police ‘raid’, alleged assault

According to Masemola, it’s a few people who will come together to devise the downfall of the national commissioner.

He said:

“The whole purpose is to take control and… of course, we’re not allowing that to happen, but of course, there are sophisticated people who know what they are doing. They know how to play the system,” he said.

Arendse asked Masemola whether policing is in a state of crisis following KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegations of widespread corruption.

“I will not describe it as the police service is in a state of crisis.”

Masemola was also questioned on whether issues raised by Mkhwanazi had been addressed or corrected since the explosive July briefing.

According to Masemola, there has been an improvement and the cases involving the political killings task team, which had previously struggled to register cases, were a sign of that.

READ | ‘Scrape until we find gold’: Mkhwanazi probes Mchunu trust, reveals Matlala-Cele money ties

“[Regarding the] enrolment of cases, I would say it improved drastically. In the past, I know that it would take various members, even the PKTT [Political Killings Task Team], tremendous effort to get cases enrolled.”

Meanwhile, Masemola told MPs that he would like to finish his term as commissioner.

“Of course, I would want to finish the term, but sometimes it’s not determined by the individual, it’s determined somewhere in the little corner and cooked there where it will be said this one must now go and they will fight,” he said.

On 6 July, Mkhwanazi held a dramatic press conference, which prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to place suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on gardening leave and establish a commission of inquiry to investigate the capture of the police, chaired by former Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga.

Hearings of the parliamentary ad hoc committee continue.