Overview
- Testifying to Parliament’s ad hoc committee, Mary de Haas supported Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s move to dissolve the PKTT, citing budget pressures and duplication with existing murder and violent crime units.
- De Haas relayed accounts alleging torture methods such as tubing, psychological coercion, warrantless searches and phone seizures, and the fabrication of evidence by the task team.
- She declined to identify informants, arguing that disclosure could endanger them and would breach her professional confidentiality oath as a social worker.
- MPs from the ANC, MK party, ActionSA and the EFF criticized her evidence as hearsay, saying anonymous claims could not be verified or acted upon.
- De Haas alleged former minister Bheki Cele involved himself in operations and said Crime Intelligence financed guns used in the Sindiso Magaqa case, assertions that senior police figures have disputed.