Violence and criminality expert Mary De Haas has stated that she is willing to testify before the committee and commission investigating the allegations of the infiltration of the South African Police Service (SAPS) by criminals. De Haas, of the KZN Violence Monitor, said she is prepared to give her side of the story.
She has taken exception to being described as an academic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Her name first arose during the testimonies given by KZN Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. It came up again yesterday during the testimony of the suspended police minister, Senzo Mchunu, before the Ad Hoc Committee.
In his testimony, Mkhwanazi challenged the committee members to invite De Haas to testify.
“I do not know De Haas; I have never met her and have not studied at UKZN, but I have learned that she is an academic there. I am disappointed. If I were a student of De Haas and she made me pass a certain qualification, I would begin to wonder if that qualification was credible.
“You cannot be a researcher and have someone sending you something, believe it to be a fact, and then communicate it out there. As a researcher, if that is what she is, I am beginning to question the institution that she works for. I think Mary De Haas is a desktop researcher, if anything; that is all she does,” Mkhwanazi said during his briefing to the committee.
Testifying yesterday, Mchunu mentioned that when he and the other deputy ministers joined the SAPS, many people wanted to speak with them about policing matters, some of whom requested confidential meetings. “De Haas is one of those people who wrote extensively to us to raise concerns about policing,” he said.
In a statement, De Haas expressed her concern regarding what she described as the inaccurate information provided by Mkhwanazi about her status as an academic during his evidence to the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee in the week ending 10 October 2025. “I find it completely unacceptable that he connected his personal insults to me with the University of KZN, thereby besmirching its good name as a Centre of Learning Excellence,” she stated.
Describing her academic credentials, she said she is a social scientist who taught Social Anthropology at the then University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal) for over twenty years and retired as a Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Social Anthropology at the end of 2002.
“My current academic status at the University of KZN is that of an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Law, a position I have held for several years. Since retiring, I have continued with research activities, and as an honorary research fellow, my research includes collaborative work with members of the Navi Pillay Research Group, which is based at the School of Law and has a specific focus on human rights.
“I also continue with my own, completely independent research activities, which no longer have any formal connection whatsoever with the University of KZN. A major focus of this independent research, which started in the 1980s, has been in collaboration with a colleague in the university-based Maurice Webb Unit, particularly concerning violent crime, especially that which is politically related, and policing.”
De Haas also emphasised, “I need to stress that my position as an honorary research fellow does not include any teaching of University of KZN students whatsoever. Since retiring, my only occasional engagement with students has been through extramural bodies, including an international collaborative human rights programme or through consultations while serving for many years on Medical Research Ethics Committees at the University of KZN Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, my membership of which continued after my retirement.”
She said she is prepared to answer all other allegations General Mkhwanazi has made against her in his testimony to the Commission and the Ad Hoc Committee.
“However, I would like to point out that, in stressing that he does not know me, the general seems to have forgotten the many emails I have addressed to him personally or have copied to his office – including about abuses and torture by police in the province – since 2019.”
She added that she had requested confirmation that her corrections, especially relating to her current status at UKZN, would be placed on the Parliamentary and Madlanga Commission record.
THE MERCURY
