Suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy
ANC MPs avoided making direct reference to suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu as parliament’s ad hoc committee on police corruption continued questioning KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on Wednesday.
Instead, the MPs focused on corruption in the judiciary, the role of former ANC member Brown Mogotsi, threats to Mkhwanazi’s family and alleged leaks from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
ANC legislator Xola Nqola asked Mkhwanazi about the so-called “Big 5” cartel — an organised crime network allegedly led by murder suspects Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Katiso Molefe. The pair, who were arrested in December 2024, are accused of drug trafficking and contract killings, and are central to the ongoing parallel Madlanga commission of inquiry into police corruption.
Nqola however made no reference to Mchunu’s alleged role in the disbanding of a task team on political killings, instead asking whether the executive had approved the disbandment and calling it “unwarranted”, given the team’s success in addressing political killings.
Mkhwanazi responded: “The minister, having that experience of coming from that province, goes against his own boss, the president of the republic who, in public in May 2018, said the political killing must stop; the minister says political killing happened before 1994.”
National police commissioner Fannie Masemola has testified at the Madlanga commission set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the task team’s arrest of Matlala and Molefe triggered Mchunu’s sudden directive to disband the unit. He said this move undermined investigations and was “an overreach into SAPS [South African Police Service] operational matters”.
Ramaphosa appointed the commission, chaired by retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, in July after Mkhwanazi addressed a media briefing about alleged political interference and criminal infiltration of SAPS. Testimony over the past two weeks has exposed an intricate web linking police generals, political figures and drug cartels to the dismantling of the task team.
Without naming Mchunu, ANC MP Thokozile Sokanyile asked Mkhwanazi on Wednesday whether “the minister” did not have the prerogative, as chair of the interministerial committee on political killings, to dissolve the task team.
“When he takes a strategic decision of this nature, it should follow the chain of command,” Mkhwanazi replied.
The uMkhonto weSizwe party’s Mandla Skosana pressed Mkhwanazi about North West businessman Mogotsi’s access to crime intelligence information and whether Ramaphosa had approved the disbandment.
Mkhwanazi said Mogotsi’s involvement was “a violation of the safety” he seeks to protect as a police officer.
Crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo has told the Madlanga commission that phone records from Matlala’s arrest linked him to Mogotsi — an associate of Mchunu — and deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya, who has also been suspended.
Khumalo said these communications revealed payments made to politicians and efforts to manipulate Independent Police Investigative Directorate investigations to protect syndicates.
Mogotsi acted as a middleman between Mchunu and Matlala, facilitating payments for confidential police information and funding political activities, including “expenses related to ANC delegates”, Khumalo said, adding that attempts to disband the political killings task team were “due to the influence of a particular organised crime cartel over the ministry of police”.
Referring to this on Wednesday, Mkhwanazi told the ad hoc committee: “This is the highest infiltration you can think of. He [Mogotsi] had claimed to be a politician. The minister himself claimed to be his comrade. I believe when he said ‘comrade’, he meant a member of his political party. Although, surprise, of late, he is no longer a member of that political party.”
He added that Mchunu “invited someone who does not have political standing to be involved in policy matters”.
“He is going to have serious consequences going forward.”
The Madlanga commission has summoned Mogotsi to respond to the allegations levelled against him by Mkhwanazi and Khumalo.
Mkhwanazi told the committee that he was unaware of Ramaphosa’s reported dissatisfaction with the task team but noted that the president had applauded it in media interviews.
On Tuesday, Mkhwanazi said the team had been established in 2018 after Ramaphosa visited KwaZulu-Natal amid escalating assassinations of local councillors and political figures. He added that this had led to the arrest of several police officers implicated in political killings and corruption.
Some of the imprisoned officers were feeding information to “some of the honourable members in this parliament … and they’re feeding them with information”, Mkhwanazi told MPs.
Mchunu, who has denied any wrongdoing, is expected to testify during phase two of the Madlanga commission’s hearings. Khumalo’s testimony is set to continue when the commission’s inquiry resumes on 13 October, having adjourned last week after the crime intelligence boss fell ill.