Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu argued that there were no political killings in South Africa after 1994 and used this as his reason for disbanding a task team investigating the murders, the national head of police Fannie Masemola told the Madlanga commission on Tuesday.
Testifying on the fifth day of the inquiry chaired by retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Masemola said Mchunu consistently avoided briefings about the task team’s work and became visibly upset whenever the unit was raised in meetings.
The task team was established in 2018 after the 2014 Moerane commission found that political killings were widespread in KwaZulu-Natal. The team’s work was later expanded to other provinces when violence spread beyond councillor assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal.
President Cyril Ramaphosa set up the Madlanga commission after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged in July that criminal syndicates and politicians were interfering with the criminal justice system.
Last week Mkhwanazi told the inquiry that Mchunu dissolved the task team through a WhatsApp message, without ever being briefed on its work. He said the disbandment came just as the task team was closing in on drug cartels in Gauteng linked to murder suspects Katiso Molefe and Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
On Tuesday Masemola said when he asked Mchunu about the reason behind the disbandment, the police minister responded that “political killings took place somewhere pre-1994 and not after”.
Masemola rejected this view, testifying that when he worked in KwaZulu-Natal from 2000 to 2010 he had led a small team that dealt with political killings cases.
“To keep them under control you must always have a team working with these kinds of cases,” he said.
He added that Mchunu’s stance was troubling because it suggested he believed political killings were limited to the apartheid era.
He explained that these were not just “murders” but killings of politicians over internal party succession battles and competition for votes and positions.
Masemola said instead of an abrupt disbandment, Mchunu could have transferred dockets to the KwaZulu-Natal murder and robbery unit as a way of winding down the task team and finalising pending cases. His recommendation was rejected.
He said he had wondered “what is this eagerness to disband” and that “it seemed they don’t want to see the [task team] members together”.
Masemola told the commission that he could not justify the team’s dissolution in his report to Mchunu. Instead, he argued for its continued existence, in the detailed report that showed the team had finalised 129 cases, with 115 still pending.
“The report set out in detail the success of the [task team], its strength as well as the criticisms levelled against it, which are unfounded. The report also highlights the [task team]’s successes as well as the successful arrest and/or convictions of masterminds behind political murders,” Masemola said.
“Importantly, the report highlights that the PKTT [political killings task team] had undeniably achieved and far exceeded the purpose for which it was established and that no other task team in South Africa had achieved the success nor has it been able to investigate and ensure conviction of politically motivated murders, especially the masterminds.”
He said suspended deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya had issued a letter approving the removal of 121 dockets from the task team and transferring them to the police national office. The dockets were later returned after Mkhwanazi’s public statement alleging political interference.
Evidence leader Terry Motau asked Masemola how the task team differed from other police investigations. He responded that political killings involved multiple stakeholders, including the procurement of hitmen, and therefore required a dedicated team rather than individual detectives.
He said the task team’s success rate reflected its ability to handle complex cases with multiple actors behind politically motivated murders.
Masemola cited the case of Isaac Plaatjies, head of security at the University of Fort Hare, who was unmasked as the mastermind behind political killings in the Eastern Cape. He said the case illustrated how the task team was able to unravel “tough cases that don’t move”.
Masemola also testified about a March meeting of parliament’s police portfolio committee where Mchunu denied having ties to Brown Mokgotsi. This contradicted his earlier claim that Mokgotsi, who was in contact with Matlala, was “a comrade”.
Mkhwanazi told the commission that Molefe and Matlala were arrested after 10 members of the task team were dispatched to assist Gauteng investigators. When the team registered arrests in December 2024 Mchunu disbanded the unit several weeks later.
Masemola said after the arrest of Matlala “it became clear what is the objective for the disbandment”. He added the 121 dockets were moved to Gauteng head office to audit the files to protect the suspects involved in the assassination of Armand Swart — a whistleblower on corruption at state-owned entity Transnet.
Masemola said his report to Mchunu included a recommendation to allow the task team to finalise pending cases with gradual withdrawal. He suggested 23 detectives continue with court roll cases and 33 combat members would protect detectives and 15 prosecutors with five commanders and analysts to provide oversight.
This was rejected by Mchunu who insisted on immediate disbandment of the task team. But Mkhwanazi testified to the commission that although the task team was given three months to shut down it has subsequently been given a budget ending March 2026.