O’Sullivan to return to Parliament on Thursday after ‘dramatic’ walk-out

Controversial forensic investigator, Paul O’Sullivan, has agreed to return to Parliament’s Ad-Hoc committee on Thursday, following his dramatic walk-out from proceedings last week.

O’Sullivan abandoned the sitting after a heated exchange with Members of Parliament, insisting that he had appeared before the committee voluntarily and had not been summoned.

He told MPs that he had already exceeded the time he had allocated for the session and needed to leave to catch a flight.

“Telling me I’m going to be arrested, I can’t leave, that’s rubbish. I came here voluntarily; I didn’t come here under a summons or anything like that. People seem to make up their own rules as they go along, you know,” O’Sullivan said.

Parliament’s legal adviser, Advocate Andile Tetyana, told the committee that the Speaker of the National Assembly had already been briefed on plans to subpoena O’Sullivan should he fail to return.

“In the event that Mr O’Sullivan does not comply with the committee’s invitation for him to appear before it, a summons has already been prepared in order to secure his attendance or his appearance.  The summons procedure is provided for in Section 56A of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, read with Section 142B of the Powers and Privileges Act.

“The Powers and Privileges Act requires that a summons must be issued by the Secretary to Parliament on the instructions of the person of the committee consent, acting in accordance with the resolution of the committee and with the concurrence of the Speaker of the National Assembly.”

Meanwhile, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Leigh-Anne Mathys, said O’Sullivan’s decision to return voluntarily does not erase what the party believes amounts to contempt of Parliament.

Mathys added that the committee should recommend that the Speaker submit an affidavit supporting the EFF’s criminal complaint after the party opened a case at Cape Town Central Police Station on Friday.

“So the processes that are available to us, which include opening a case of contempt, must be done. As you know that a case has been opened, so we would like to make a recommendation that the committee recommends to the Speaker or whoever needs to do it, that they submit an affidavit to the case. We’ve already received the case number supporting the investigation of the case and then obviously, the ultimate prosecution, etc. So we are in line with that.

“Also in terms of O’Sullivan, there was also that matter that we received both a legal opinion about and we submitted our letter to the Speaker when he threatened one of our witnesses, Kabindi, and there’s been no action on that. So maybe this is the time for us to discuss with the Speaker and the Speaker’s office on what we need to do with that matter, along with this contempt of Parliament charge that we should be laying.”

♦️ Must Watch ♦️

EFF Deputy Secretary-General, Hon. @LeighAnnMathys, said the voluntary return of Paul O’Sullivan does not erase contempt of Parliament and called on the Committee to have the Speaker file an affidavit supporting the EFF’s case.

DSG also demanded follow-up… pic.twitter.com/sZnGjNEdFp

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) March 2, 2026

ANC MP, Khusela Sangoni,  says O’Sullivan’s decision to return to the committee on Thursday does not negate the possibility that an offence was committed when he walked out of proceedings.

LISTEN: On the matter of Mr Paul O’Sullivan, ANC MP, Cde Khusela Sangoni @KhuselaS says the ANC welcomes decisiveness with which the matter has been attended by both the Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

She says him (O’Sullivan)… pic.twitter.com/4iqZZwtvnI

— ANC Parliament (@ANCParliament) March 2, 2026