Explosive claims as SAPS and Ipid square off in Parliament

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) and SAPS made explosive claims of death threats‚ interference and allegations of "capture" by private individuals as they faced off in Parliament on Tuesday.

Ipid executive director Robert McBride and acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane were summoned to discuss claims of interference by the police in the Ipid investigation into Phahlane.

Parliament's police portfolio committee heard that Ipid investigators received death threats soon after they launched an investigation into claims of corruption by police union Popcru and private investigator Paul O'Sullivan.

• Phahlane 'fix-it squad' warned off by IpidA team of cops formed by acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane - some of its members are suspected of being involved in assassinations, kidnapping and torture - is of concern to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), which is intensifying its investigations into the beleaguered general. 

Matthews Sesoko‚ Ipid's chief director of investigations‚ told the committee the investigation was started in November last year. Shortly thereafter‚ lead investigator Mandla Mahlangu‚ O'Sullivan and acting Ipid executive director Israel Kgamanyane all received death threats via text message‚ Sesoko said.

The messages were later traced to a phone linked to a police officer working at OR Tambo International Airport‚ and another phone was connected to the cell phone tower near SAPS headquarters.

• Do the police violate human rights every day?A common theme emerged at a panel discussion on policing and rights on Friday – police officers regularly violate the human rights of marginalised minorities such as sex workers and members of the lesbian‚ gay‚ bi-sexual‚ transgender‚ questioning and intersex (LGBTQI) community. 

Sesoko also said witnesses were approached by Phahlane and told not to cooperate with the investigation. He had also "unlawfully" gained access to a list of witnesses in his case‚ which could indicate further interference.

Sesoko told the committee that a special SAPS unit‚ headed by Major General Mabula‚ who had previously headed up a unit in the North West which had been investigated by Ipid in connection with torture and murder‚ had been brought in to interfere with the Ipid investigation.

• READ IN FULL: Ipid's damning Phahlane affidavit The police watchdog has filed a damning affidavit that details how an investigation against national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane unfolded. 

Several Ipid members and those linked to the investigation are now being investigated by the police.

Phahlane told the committee that SAPS was investigating them after a security assessment found that he was under a very real threat.

Phahlane told the committee that Ipid had been "captured" by O'Sullivan and was no longer independent.

• 'They're out to get me' - Phahlane on cash payments bombshellThe police watchdog's investigation of South Africa's top cop, acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane, has been extended to include allegations that he has been complicit in racketeering and money-laundering. 

"It should be renamed OPID - for O'Sullivan's Police Investigative Directorate‚" he said.

The committee was also shown emails and text messages that called into question Ipid's independence and indicated that O'Sullivan was privy to high-level and private materials used in the investigation.

In one email‚ O'Sullivan warns Phahlane that he will be "all over you like a badly fitted suit" if he did not go after Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir. In another‚ he claims he will go after Phahlane's wife after he has dealt with him.