Overview
- Testifying before the ad hoc committee, Khomotso Phahlane said then police minister Fikile Mbalula asked him to step aside in June 2017 despite only the president having the authority to remove him, and he says he never received a presidential letter.
- He was suspended days after that meeting and dismissed in 2020 over a R46 million panoramic cameras contract, a decision upheld by the Labour Court in October 2023 for PFMA contraventions that caused R24.4 million in fruitless expenditure, which he is appealing.
- Phahlane denied corruption and procurement allegations and accused private investigator Paul O’Sullivan and former IPID head Robert McBride of waging a malicious campaign against him.
- He told lawmakers political interference in SAPS has been entrenched since the 2007 Polokwane conference, urged a reconfiguration of Crime Intelligence, and described the cameras tender winner Ethemba Forensic Group as a compromised choice.
- The committee resumed public hearings with Phahlane as the first 2026 witness, noted his request to conclude questioning by 8pm, and confirmed upcoming witnesses including Dumisani Khumalo, Julius Mkhwanazi, McBride, Brown Mogotsi and O’Sullivan, with security concerns and a virtual appearance request on record.