Denial: The suspended police minister, Senzo Mchunu (above), has described the allegations by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against him as ‘wild’. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi this week told the Madlanga commission that senior police officials interfered with the task team investigating political killings when it extended its reach beyond the province and made key arrests in Gauteng.
Mkhwanazi is the first person to testify before the inquiry chaired by retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, which President Cyril Ramaphosa set up in response to allegations by the police commissioner in July that implicated now-suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu in the infiltration of the criminal justice system by syndicates.
This week Mkhwanazi said although the task team had been recording a high success rate in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, problems began when 10 of its members were dispatched to Gauteng to assist with the high-profile assassination of Arman Swart, an engineer involved in reporting corruption at state logistics company Transnet.
The arrest of three suspects, including a hitman, a former Transnet employee and a South African Police Service (SAPS) detective in Johannesburg, catalysed a wider investigation that showed far-reaching connections in the criminal underworld. After the task team identified Katiso “KT” Molefe and Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala as persons of interest, Mkhwanazi subsequently received a letter from Mchunu disbanding the task team.
Mkhwanazi alleges the task team was disbanded on the brink of exposing insidious infiltration of law enforcement by criminal syndicates.
On Thursday he detailed several cases where suspects continued to kill whistleblowers even while on bail at the behest of politicians and tenderpreneurs. Mkhwanazi said this showed the decision to disband the task team was ill-advised.
In his testimony he included recommendations to the task team by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in KwaZulu-Natal to expand its operations to combat political killings and organised crime to bolster his argument on the importance of the force.
“The immediate and adverse impact of the dissolution of the task team cannot be overstated. This is amply and succinctly set out by the director of public prosecution advocate [Elaine] Harrison in her letter that was written to me on the 10th of June 2025,” Mkhwanazi said.
He said Harrison warned that disbanding the task team would also result in the dissolution of the dedicated prosecutorial team, adding his aim was to protect the value chain of the criminal justice system.
Evidence leader Mahlape Sello said Harrison’s letter sets out the issues and difficulties in organised crime and provides a perspective on the justification for the task team from the NPA.
Mkhwanazi said the individuals at the high end of cases — including politicians, prosecutors and police officials — interfered in investigations. He referenced the 121 dockets that were taken from the KwaZulu-Natal task team at the start of the year but were subsequently returned recently.
On Wednesday, Mkhwanazi told the Madlanga commission that he received the directive from Mchunu to disband the task team in WhatsApp message and called it “irrational and irregular” because the now suspended minister had not received a formal briefing on its work.
Mchunu, who has denied any wrongdoing, has described the allegation as “wild”. He is expected to appear before the commission during phase two of the inquiry, when implicated individuals will respond to the allegations.
Ramaphosa established the commission after Mkhwanazi made explosive allegations in a July media briefing regarding the disbandment of the political killings task team and criminal syndicates in the police.
This week Mkhwanazi testified that he held the media briefing after multiple attempts to reach Mchunu and national police commissioner Fanie Masemola failed. He warned that the criminal justice system is at “risk of total collapse” if reforms are not made to address the concerns he raised.
Asked by Sello about the risk to the system, Mkhwanazi said: “It has been my aim that I want to demonstrate that the criminal justice system has been subject to a continuous threat as well as sabotage, which has been with us over an extended period, to a point where we believe it is a real risk of a total collapse. Nothing is done.”
He added that the commission has a vital role to play in preventing that collapse.
The task team, established in 2018, was meant to tackle the wave of assassinations of politicians and traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal. It was formed after recommendations from the Moerane Commission of Inquiry, which investigated political violence in the province.
Reading from the directive he received from the police minister about the disbandment, Mkhwanazi quoted Mchunu as writing: “My observation in this regard, as indicated above, is that further existence of this team is no longer required as it is not adding any value to policing in South Africa. I therefore direct that the political killings task team be disestablished immediately.”
Mkhwanazi said the letter showed the minister’s view that the unit had outlived its usefulness. But the provincial police commissioner said he disagreed with this assessment.
He said he had made informal presentations to Mchunu about the problems faced by SAPS in KwaZulu-Natal. The police minister never requested a briefing from the task team before disbanding it, he added.
“One of the remarks I made in my presentation was to invite him to visit KZN so that he gets to experience some of the operational challenges that we have as a province, especially because he’s a resident of the very same province,” he said.
Asked whether Mchunu had taken up this invitation to brief him on the task team’s work since his appointment in May 2024, Mkhwanazi replied: “We have never received an invitation at all.”
Mkhwanazi testified that he raised his concerns with deputy national commissioner for crime detection Shadrack Sibiya — who has also been suspended — urging him to establish why Mchunu had made such a drastic decision.
“In my view, it was an irrational and irregular [decision],” he said. “The decision was going to have a serious impact in terms of the investigation of crime and those cases that were before the team.”
He added that the public in KwaZulu-Natal — a province of more than 12.5 million people — would have held him responsible as provincial commissioner for any failures in addressing political killings.
According to Mkhwanazi, the task team was reduced in size and given a three-month budget for April to June 2025. Although he had indicated in his affidavit to the commission that the task team had been disbanded, he said he had received information that the team’s budget had been approved till March 2026.
In July, Mkhwanazi told journalists that 121 case dockets had been taken from the task team in early 2025 to shield suspects. The dockets were returned to the task team on 28 August and the SAPS earlier this month said this had resulted in the arrest of suspects wanted in connection with the murder of whistleblower Xolani Ndlovu Ntombela.
In remarks to open the inquiry on Wednesday, Madlanga said the commission’s work was necessary given the gravity of Mkhwanazi’s allegations.
“If the allegations are proved to be true, that spells doom for South Africa’s criminal justice system. A healthy criminal justice system is key to the rule of law and in turn to a functioning constitutional democracy,” the retired judge said.
Chief evidence leader advocate Terry Motau said the inquiry would proceed with impartiality. “The commission does not move from the premise that the allegations by general Mkhwanazi are indeed correct. It also does not move from the premise that they are not.
“And it should not escape any of us that if those allegations are true, they will erode and damage public trust in these very vital and crucial institutions.”
The Madlanga commission has six months to complete its work and deliver findings. An interim report is due within three months.