In court papers, Mkhwanazi says O'Sullivan refused to retract and apologise for his comments.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi is suing private investigator Paul O’Sullivan for comments he made about him in various media interviews.
In July, Mkhwanazi held a media briefing, in which he levelled several allegations against police management and the judiciary, among others.
Mkhwanazi said an investigation with the Gauteng organised crime investigation unit unmasked a syndicate which involves politicians, law enforcement, metro police, correctional services, prosecutors, the judiciary, and is controlled by drug cartels as well as businesspeople.
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Following the public allegations, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a commission to investigate the allegations, while parliament agreed to establish an ad hoc committee.
The Madlanga Commission commences today, and Mkhwanazi will be its first witness.
O’Sullivan: ‘Mkhwanazi is a criminal’
Following Mkhwanazi’s media briefing, O’Sullivan spoke to several media publications, in which he accused the police commissioner of being a criminal himself.
He told Newzroom Afrika that Mkhwanazi had approved R36 million of public funds to purchase luxury cars in 2021. He further accused the commissioner of having joined a police supplier on an overseas trip and came back with a Louis Vuitton handbag.
“Neither of them disclosed at customs the fact that they had in their possession a gift worth somewhere between 70 and 100k each, and then what do they do, they probably gave these bags to their wives,” alleged O’Sullivan at the time.
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He alleged in an IOL report that Mkhwanazi had been involved in serious organised crime for a long time himself.
“Mkhwanazi is one of the biggest criminals that ever wore a police uniform. His crimes, when they are finally exposed, will shock the nation,” he was quoted as saying.
He also accused Mkhwanazi of instituting “a shoot to kill policy”, which allegedly entailed the murdering of criminals by shooting them, whether they were armed or not, since the year 2000.
‘He defamed me’
In court papers, Mkhwanazi said these comments, along with many others, were defamatory.
His lawyers said court papers that he previously sent a letter of demand to O’Sullivan to retract and apologise for his comments. However, the private investigator does not seem to be shaken and now faces a R5 million lawsuit as a result.
“As a result of such defamation of his character, the plaintiff has been severely damaged in his reputation, the quantum whereof is in the sum of five million rand,” reads Mkhwanazi’s court papers.
“Despite written demand having been made on behalf of the plaintiff, of the defendant to retract such defamatory allegations and to apologise, via the same media forums to the plaintiff for having defamed him unjustifiable, alternatively to pay the sum of R5 million for the damages thereby occasioned to the plaintiff, the defendant not only declined to comply with such demand, but through his attorney, further defamed the plaintiff by unjustifiable accusing him of attempting to extort funds from him.”
O’Sullivan reportedly told News24 on Tuesday that Mkhwanazi’s claim against him “was a desperate attempt to silence a whistleblower”.
“Mkhwanazi pretended to be a whistleblower when he was nothing of the kind,” he was quoted as saying.
He will reportedly be one of the witnesses at the Madlanga Commission.
