I heard over one of the public broadcasting TV stations that the Acting Minister of Police, Professor Cachalia, has criticised the National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola, for returning 121 dockets that were under investigations to KwaZulu-Natal, where they originated.
These are dockets on political and other killings that are reported to have been removed on instructions and/ or directives of the suspended former Minister of Police, Mchunu.
It is reported that the Acting Minister Prof Cachalia feels that the returning of the dockets to KwaZulu-Natal should have waited for the Madlanga Commission of inquiry to deal with these matters.
Acting Minister, Prof Cachalia appears to be ignorant of the fact that in any democratic system like ours, where there is separation of powers, a commission of inquiry does not substitute the normal day to day functioning of organs of state. A commission of inquiry does not suspend operations on crime prevention and investigations.
Further, a commission of inquiry is not an investigative tool, but rather, it is a fact finding facility to discover and report on the truth or otherwise on matters that form part of its terms of reference. Some recommendations from a commission of inquiry may need investigations by the police.
It is therefore incorrect and an act of interference for the Acting Minister to expect the police not to follow up on criminals before the Madlanga Commission sits. In my view, the dockets have not been destroyed. If the commission needs them, they will still be made available.
We now know that the Madlanga commission has been delayed.
Acting Minister Prof Cachalia should remember that suspended former Minister Mchunu instructed Deputy Police Commissioner General Sibiya to transfer the docket to the Head Office, an act which led to his suspension. Is there something that the Acting Minister was mandated to interfere with before the dockets could be returned to the Task Team?
