Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia. (@Prof_Cachalia/X)
Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told parliament’s ad hoc committee on police corruption that suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu may have had valid reasons to disband the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team, but he erred by failing to consult or properly communicate his decision.
“But on this matter I think he was correct to the extent that he was emphasising the fact that this decision was a political decision,” he said.
Cachalia said that while the team had achieved success in curbing political assassinations, Mchunu’s unilateral directive reflected a breakdown of trust between him and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola.
“There was a lack of mutual respect and communication between Mchunu and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola,” he added.
He said there could have been sound reasons to disband the KZN task team, but Mchunu did not consult or communicate his decision inappropriately.
On Tuesday, Deputy Police Minister Shela Boshielo said she learnt of Mchunu’s disbandment letter on social media and later received a call from the suspended minister confirming that he had written it. Co-Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale and former police minister Bheki Cele told the committee about the same lack of consultation.
Cachalia said “task teams are not immortal” and “subject to budgetary decisions and changes of priorities”.
“So from my point of view, it is not that the minister took the view that the task team should be disbanded, it’s the process that was followed,” said Cachalia.
He told MPs he had received a report from Masemola after his appointment in August 2025, recommending that the task team continue and that “similar capacity needs to be developed” in other provinces.
“I was quite happy with [Masemola’s] recommendation, that was contained in his written report that the team should not be dismantled in the current moment.”
Cachalia commended the task team’s innovative investigative methods but reiterated Mchunu’s remarks that internal capacity within SAPS should be built to do the work the task team is doing.
“We certainly need, on a national basis, to respond to this problem of the involvement of cartels, infiltrating our institutions, increasingly emboldened, quite prepared to assassinate people,” said Cachalia.
Cachalia said the task team had been successful precisely because it adopted an “integrated approach” to investigating political violence — something often lacking in the South African Police Service (SAPS) operations.
“The criminal justice cluster always struggles to overcome the silo problem — to get different parts of the system working together to tackle a challenge,” he said.
Asked whether Mchunu’s December 2024 instruction to “immediately” disband the task team amounted to corruption or political interference, Cachalia declined to speculate.
“I cannot put myself in the position of my predecessor, and I don’t think it’ll be appropriate for me to second-guess the decisions he made,” he said.
“Mchunu’s decision to disband the task team may have been made in good faith; however, in hindsight, there ought to have been consultation with colleagues in the cabinet whose judgment about the disbandment of such a team would have been essential.”
Cachalia said the Madlanga Commission and the parliamentary inquiry could mark a turning point for the embattled police service.
“My view is that the South African Police Service is going through a very difficult period and the inquiry you are conducting and the Madlanga Commission will be a moment of some difficulty for the country because we are being exposed to testimony that is very disconcerting,” he said.
He said government was now developing a new organised crime strategy, currently being tested in the Western Cape and three other provinces.
“We are working on an organised crime strategy. We are testing it out in the Western Cape and three other provinces, this integrated strategy, and as I said, we learnt a lot from the [KZN task team],” said Cachalia.
Cachalia also reflected on KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s public comments, saying his July 2024 media briefing in military uniform — where he accused Mchunu and Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of protecting cartels — “worried” him.
However, Cachalia said that if Mkhwanazi’s allegations of corruption within SAPS are proven true, he should be recognised as a whistleblower.
“Should his allegations be sustained, then Mkhwanazi would be vindicated as a whistleblower,” he said.
Cachalia said the two parallel police inquiries provide a moment to reset SAPS.
“As we move into a process of resetting SAPS, I hope that will be the outcome of the ad hoc committee process and the Madlanga Commission — to help the country understand what has happened and find a way forward.”
He added that detective services were underperforming, crime intelligence needed an upgrade, and the criminal justice system must adopt a more unified approach to tackling organised crime.
“I think there’s some conversation to be had on how to assure alignment and integration in the criminal justice system,” he said.