Members of parliament who form part of the ad hoc committee investigating corruption in South Africa’s criminal justice system this week questioned private forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan‘s influence on the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Witnesses have accused O’Sullivan of weaponising the entity — which is mandated with ensuring policing that is committed to promoting respect for the rule of law and human dignity — to facilitate suspensions and appointments within the South African Police Service (SAPS).
O’Sullivan denied the allegations during his testimony before parliament this week, saying that he acted as a concerned citizen who wanted to “uncapture” the state.
On Wednesday, ANC legislator Xola Nqola asked the private investigator to clarify a previous statement that he paid for Robert McBride’s legal fees, paving the way for him to be reinstated as head of Ipid in 2016. O’Sullivan responded that he was just one of several concerned citizens “who decided to assist in uncapturing the criminal justice system”.
“In 2015, Robert McBribe was unlawfully suspended. And after he was unlawfully suspended a number of people got together, not as part of a strategy or anything like this,” O’Sullivan said, listing the Helen Suzman Foundation and private law firm Adams & Adams among the concerned parties.
He added that at the time, he had decided to do something about defects in the criminal justice system, focusing on missing case dockets.
He accused the former head of the State Security Agency and former national commissioner for Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, as well as former minister of state security David Mahlobo of creating a parallel intelligence infrastructure.
ANC MP Khusela Sangoni asked O’Sullivan about allegations of intimidation made against him by former national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane.
“An individual like you cannot remove a national police commissioner according to the Constitution. So when you said to General Phahlane ‘I will now turn to having you ejected from your position’, what did you mean by that?” Sangoni queried.
“I meant, by that, the criminal charges will result in him being removed from his position,” O’Sullivan responded.
Asked about his involvement in the alleged unlawful disbandment of a KwaZulu-Natal- based task team investigating political killings, he told legislators that he was not aware of the unit before last July’s media briefing by provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, in which he accused suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu of political interference.
“I have no knowledge of the budget of [the task team] and in fact, I didn’t even know of the existence of [the team] until 6 July last year,” O’Sullivan said.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Gylnnis Breytenbach asked him to identify the biggest obstacle in the criminal justice system, to which he pointed to a Secret Service account he said was being used as a slush fund.
O’Sullivan had earlier told MPs that after Mkhwanazi’s July media briefing, an alleged informer approached his private investigation firm, Forensic for Justice, claiming that police were engaged in extreme violence and extrajudicial killings.
He said the fund’s budget had grown from R98 million in the 2012/2013 financial year to R600 million annually, a 500% increase. But despite this growth, he said, there had been no corresponding reduction in serious crime.
O’Sullivan argued that internal rivalries within SAPS were driven in part by competition for control over this fund, urging Parliament to scrutinise it if it wished to address the “root of all evil in the police”.
O’Sullivan alleged the appointment of crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo had led to the capture of the slush fund.
ActionSA MP Dereleen James asked him to confirm whether his main submission to the committee was for the reform of the Secret Service account, to which O’Sullivan concurred. James submitted into the record, O’Sullivan’s bank accounts showing that he received payment from the now-defunct Directorate of Special Operations, known as the Scorpions.
The DA’s Breytenbach dismissed the document, titled “Reward for Information”, as counterfeit but Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema asked O’Sullivan to explain why he was paid R1 000.00 by the Scorpions, a police agency. He responded that he recalled receiving refunds from the Scorpions for investigations he conducted for their Project Coffee and Project Bad Guy operation.
“It makes the situation worse, Mr Paul O’Sullivan because it means the money was released under a false pretext. Because if it says reward and you call it refund it means whoever went to apply for this money lied that you were being rewarded,” Malema said.
“I’ve only seen the document today for the first time,” O’Sullivan replied.
The ANC’s Sangoni questioned O’Sullivan’s career trajectory as a former intelligence agent of the United Kingdom being involved in police accountability bodies in South Africa.
“During the training you mentioned that President [Cyril] Ramaphosa was one of the 1500 reservists you trained. Who else did you train and how did it come about that you trained President Ramaphosa?” she asked.
“At the time President Ramaphosa was not the president, he was a businessman and how he came to be on the course, my understanding and maybe you need to ask him, he was chairman of a company called JCI [Johannesburg Consolidated Investments],” O’Sullivan said.
He said he simply taught a class at the police college but did not conduct firearm training.
O’Sullivan pushed back against claims that he had sent threating messages to Cedric Nkabinde, Mchunu’s chief of staff, before his appearance at the ad hoc committee.
He described the texts sent to Nkabinde as “a statement of fact” instead of a threat. They read: “Get ready you lying crook. I’m going to make sure you spend some years in prison. You were bribed by Mkhwanazi and [Mabula]. Now you will pay for your crimes, guaranteed.”
O’Sullivan said he sent the message after receiving a video clip in which Nkabinde mentioned him during his testimony before the committee and accused him of capturing Ipid and describing this as the “real state capture”.
“I can state categorically on the record … that I did not capture Ipid. Anybody who believes that to be the case is living in a different world, a dream world,” said O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan has become a central and controversial figure in parallel inquiries into alleged corruption and factional battles within South Africa’s policing structures.
He was implicated at the Madlanga Commission by Mkhwanazi, who claimed it was an “open secret” that O’Sullivan had close links to suspended deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.
Mkhwanazi said O’Sullivan accused him of corruption after he mentioned Sibiya at last year’s highly charged media briefing, in which he alleged political interference by Mchunu in policing. Following those accusations, Mkhwanazi invited O’Sullivan to present evidence before the Madlanga commission.
Nkabinde, on his part, alleged that O’Sullivan wielded extensive influence within Ipid, SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), describing this network as “the real state capture”.
This week, O’Sullivan accused Mkhwanazi of running what he described as a parallel police force and using it to eliminate rivals. He questioned Mkhwanazi’s claims, made during previous testimony, that he managed informers.
O’Sullivan argued that managing informers required appropriate security clearance and a formal role in crime intelligence, neither of which, he claimed, applied to Mkhwanazi.
Questions have also been raised about O’Sullivan’s relationship with Sibiya. During the parliamentary hearing, evidence leader Norman Arendse asked him about a 2016 braai in Bedfordview, reportedly linked to the unlawful procurement of spyware equipment for the City of Johannesburg.
Sibiya, who was then leading the city’s Group Forensic Services, has been implicated in that matter.
O’Sullivan said his relationship with Sibiya began in connection with a case involving a Czech Republic refugee seeking asylum and that they had remained in contact over the years. He acknowledged having four or five meetings with Sibiya in his capacity as deputy national commissioner, during which they discussed cases investigated by Forensic for Justice.
However, he denied any personal friendship, saying they had never socialised beyond the 2016 braai and had no personal dealings outside work-related matters.
He also denied involvement in the arrest and suspension of crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo, despite accusations from some police officials that he used Ipid to target rivals within SAPS.
While he said he was pleased Khumalo had been arrested, he insisted that Ipid acted independently and that he played no role in the decision to arrest him.
The private forensic investigator denied having undue influence on the police, insisting he was just a concerned citizen who wanted to help in ‘uncapturing the criminal justice system’
