Watch As South African Mps Fight In Parliament

Proceedings of parliament’s ad hoc committee turned contentious on Thursday, 12 March 2026, as DA members walked out over concerns about testimony from a controversial witness.

Tenderpreneur Kishene Chetty appeared before the committee in Cape Town as part of its inquiry into allegations of corruption, criminal activity, and political interference within South Africa’s justice system.

Kishene Chetty’s criminal cases

Chetty is one of 18 accused individuals – including South African Police Service (Saps) members – facing charges of fraud, corruption, forgery and theft linked to the alleged misuse of funds from irregular personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts valued at about R8 million.

According to the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac), the funds were allegedly used to pay legal fees for police officers at the time of their arrest in a separate corruption case that is currently before the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

Chetty and some of his co-accused are also implicated in four additional criminal matters involving allegedly irregular Saps contracts awarded to companies linked to him.

One of these cases relates to a R56 million police vehicle branding contract, where Chetty and 40 other individuals face charges including fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

A legal challenge by the suspects to have all the criminal cases consolidated was struck off the roll in July 2025.

A review application has since been lodged.

Additionally, Chetty is reportedly also facing separate charges of fraud and tax evasion in a case where he allegedly defrauded the South African Revenue Service (Sars) of nearly R14 million.

Ad hoc committee concerned over testimony

During his testimony, Chetty confirmed he was currently waiting for a judge to be assigned to hear the review application.

He alleged that authorities had abused their powers and claimed some of the charges against him had been duplicated.

Chetty also accused certain prosecutorial officials of disregarding court procedures.

“When I do complain about them, I get arrested or they retaliate by using stat machinery. I have proof of all of that,” he told the committee.

However, his testimony quickly sparked concern among some MPs.

DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach pointed out that Chetty did not appear to have legal representation and warned that his testimony could potentially harm his position in the criminal cases he is currently facing.

“My major concern is that we operate on a principle of innocence until proven guilty in this country, but he stands an excellent chance of enduring himself a lot of damage in those matters that are on the roll.

“That’s really some serious that he should think about,” the DA MP said.

Evidence leader Norman Arendse responded that the courts would ultimately deal with the matters during the trial process, but Breytenbach maintained that allowing Chetty to continue could prejudice him.

She further questioned the relevance of portions of Chetty’s submission to the committee’s investigation.

“So we are going to spend a day trolling through, with respect, irrelevant information, not even evidence,” Breytenbach said.

‘Legal detriment’

ANC MP Xola Nqola shared concerns about the situation and criticised the committee’s legal team for not flagging potential issues earlier.

He argued that the legal team should have advised the committee before inviting Chetty to testify.

“It is becoming a problem. We agree [that] the nature of what is said in the affidavit requires a competent court of law.

“It’s a detriment, a legal detriment to Mr Chetty himself to come and answer here,” the ANC MP said.

Nqola also noted that parliamentary rules restrict members from engaging with matters that are sub judice.

uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party MP Sibonelo Nomvalo also criticised the committee’s legal team, suggesting their handling of the matter was undermining the committee’s work.

“What are they doing during consultation? Are they guiding witnesses on legalities, or [do] they just accept and say, ‘bring everything, we’ll just pass it as it is to the ad hoc committee,” Nomvalo said.

Nomvalo opposed the idea of sending Chetty away.

“He has been failed by this committee. He has been failed by the evidence leader, and now, we want to suffocate him. We want to turn him away.”

‘Parliament is an embarrassment’

EFF MP Leigh-Ann Mathys described the situation as “embarrassing”, saying the issues raised during the meeting should have been resolved long before the hearing.

She attributed the problem to the lack of forensic investigative capacity within parliament.

“We are an embarrassment to the people who voted for us. parliament is an embarrassment not to provide adequate resources,” Mathys said.

Mathys also pointed out that other witnesses with ongoing court matters had testified before the committee.

“To all of a sudden to feel uncomfortable participating… I don’t even know where we are pulling that from,” the EFF MP said.

She added that the sub judice rule was often used to avoid answering difficult questions in parliament.

“It’s a long sing-song story. Mr Chetty has been here. This is his second time; the first time we even sent him away,” Mathys remarked.

Patriotic Alliance (PA) MP Ashley Sauls contended that Chetty should decide whether he wished to proceed with his testimony.

“If he goes to jail because we asked him [questions] and he is found guilty, then he is found guilty.

“He must go to jail. We won’t visit you, Mr Chetty, we’ll be glad that we have contributed to whatever the court will find if you are found guilty,” Sauls said.

Testimony to continue

Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) MP Wouter Wessels suggested the committee should simply take note of Chetty’s statement, while ActionSA MP Dereleen James also raised concerns about continuing with the hearing.

Later in the session, Breytenbach requested that she and fellow DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard be excused before leaving the meeting.

Committee chairperson and ANC MP Soviet Lekganyane eventually ruled that proceedings would continue after Chetty confirmed he was willing to proceed with his testimony.