Mkhwanazi goes on to make astounding allegations about events within the SAPS

During his testimony before the ad hoc committee looking into police criminality in Parliament on Wednesday, KZN Police Commissioner Lt-Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi kept making some astounding claims.

Mkhwanazi revealed names of journalists who are allegedly captured by rogue Crime Intelligence Officers to push an agenda through stories.

Mkhwanazi said journalists should get heavy punishment for pushing such a narrative.

Testifying before the ad hoc committee probing police criminality in Parliament on Wednesday, Mkhwanazi accused a City Press journalist, Abram Mashego of publishing unsolicited information against him.

Mkhwanazi has taken issue with a media inquiry sent by Mashego regarding “a legal stab” by General Shadrack Sibiya — a claim that never materialised.

He questioned Mashego’s decision to report on what he described as clear misinformation.

The General told committee members that he had screenshot the message to share with a colleague — a copy that was ultimately leaked on social media.

Calling for accountability in the media, Mkhwanazi urged Parliament to consider mechanisms to deal with journalists who publish false or misleading reports.

He warned of the risks that come with unchecked media freedom.

"To say that it's gospel whatever they say — it's wrong. It cannot be like that… There has been a lot of pushback indirectly through the journalists, a lot of media stories written."

Pressed on the role journalists may have played in the controversy, he said, “Some of those journalists who wrote bad things, they are starting to change their tune, and they start connecting the dots themselves.”

Still, he was clear not to paint the entire profession with the same brush, saying not all journalists were complicit.

Mashego has yet to respond to the claims. Late last night Mashego's publication stated that it had noted with concern comments made by Mkhwanazi, adding that should he ''provide any proof to support his averment, we will take that seriously and investigate''. 

Meanwhile, Mkhwanazi said he would reveal more when given a proper platform — hinting at explosive revelations still to come: “Some of the secrets will shock you.”

Earlier yesterday, African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament Khusela Sangoni-Diko, and member of the Ad Hoc Committee investigating allegations made by Mkhwanazi, said that there are clearly problems within the State Security Agency (SSA) that warrant greater attention.

Sangoni-Diko was talking on the side of the Ad Hoc Committee probing the allegations Mkhwanazi made of police corruption and interference, where she was discussing her thoughts on Mkhwanazi’s testimony and some of the explosive claims that have since come to light.

DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard has faced mounting pressure to step down from the committee after explosive allegations that she leaked classified Crime Intelligence information.

The bombshell claims were made by Mkhwanazi, who told both the Madlanga Commission and Parliament that Kohler Barnard unlawfully disclosed top-secret intel, and that this sparked targeted attacks on the Crime Intelligence unit.

Sangoni-Diko said the ANC has greatly welcomed the intervention made by Mkhwanazi to bring these issues to the fore.

“We're obviously gravely concerned about the issues that he's raising, especially the alleged infiltration by criminal syndicates of our law enforcement system. The evidence that he's put before the committee speaks to deep-rooted problems, and we think that we're getting somewhere in understanding it, but I mean, as he says, it may just be the tip of the iceberg,” Sangoni-Diko said.

On the allegations levelled against Kohler-Barnard, she said that the ANC has pushed very hard for this process to be insulated from bias, and that is the reason why they asked that the DA should consider having Kohler-Barnard recuse herself.

Making further explosive allegations, on Tuesday Mkhwanazi said that Crime Intelligence had secretly built a R600,000 wall at Nathi Mthethwa’s home in KwaMbonambi in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mthethwa, who was serving as South Africa’s ambassador to France, died in Paris last week after reportedly falling from a 22nd-floor hotel window - his body is expected to arrive in the country on Friday.

Mthethwa’s family said he and his wife, Philisiwe Buthelezi paid for every single brick of the perimeter wall at his home as they denied claims made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi that Crime Intelligence slush funds had been used.

Mkhwanazi added that he believes the wall was built without Mthethwa’s knowledge or request.

As he continued his testimony yesterday, Mkhwanazi said that he will ask Parliament though the intelligence structures to look into the tenure of former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (PID) head Robert McBride.

It was in response to questions from EFF leader Julius Malema that Mkhwanazi delivered another bombshell, calling on parliament to probe how former IPID boss McBride interacted with forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, the meeting venues, cellphone locations, where they met, and the way they engaged in terms of investigations.

He said he was told by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s chief of staff Cedric Nkabinde that operations of IPID were planned, coordinated, and executed at O’Sullivan’s house.

“I am to require such be investigated in detail because the phone will put McBride, in this place, put Paul O’Sullivan in this place, Nkabinde in this place, and others. When that investigation is conluded nobody can deny it because we will know exactly all of them were operating, guided by Paul O’Sullivan.”

Mkhwanazi told Malema he was interested to know the author of a report that was produced wherein the City of Johannesburg and the National Commissioner wrote to the State Security Agency asking about the legality or otherwise of a gadget bought by the Metro when suspended Deputy Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya was in charge of security there.

He said he was interested to know how the gadget was sourced from the UK.

Another investigation should be conducted on a similar gadget that was bought by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) in 2010, when Sibiya was working at the DPCI.

Mkhwanazi said the investigation should look at whether it was bought legally and who the supplier and manufacturer was.