O’Sullivan has denied allegations that he had committed a crime.
Private investigator Paul O’Sullivan has hit back at KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi with a counterclaim of R10 million.
In papers filed in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, O’Sullivan accuses Mkhwanazi of making several false and defamatory statements against him at the Madlanga commission and parliamentary ad hoc committee.
O’Sullivan denied allegations that he had committed a crime.
“If a case has been opened for investigation, it has been opened unlawfully because it has not been registered, and there is no record of it, or Mkhwanazi would have been able to cite the case number,” reads the papers.
Mkhwanazi warned that Paul has control “all over”, and the country must not sit back and be run by him.
In July, Mkhwanazi held a media briefing, in which he levelled several allegations against police management and the judiciary, among others.
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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.
Ramaphosa gazetted the commission in the same month to ensure the Commissions Act, 1947, (Act No. 8 of 1947) (“the Act”) applies to the Commission.
Last month, Mkhwanazi filed a R5 million defamation lawsuit against O’Sullivan for comments he made about him in various media interviews.
Following Mkhwanazi’s media briefing in July, 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.
In court papers, Mkhwanazi said these comments, along with many others, were defamatory.
His lawyers stated that court papers, which included a letter of demand, had been sent to O’Sullivan, requesting that he 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.
