The KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has registered a criminal investigation against Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu following claims of political interference in work carried out by a task team into political killings.
In a briefing on Sunday morning, Mkhwanazi accused the minister of political interference in investigations and having an ulterior motive in disbanding the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) political killings task team, a unit based in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mkhwanazi said in March 2025, a total of 121 case dockets under investigation were taken away from the task team as directed by the deputy national commissioner of crime detection, Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya, acting on the instruction of Mchunu to disband the task team.
In December 2024, Mchunu issued a directive for national police commissioner Lieutenant General Fannie Masemola to disband the task team.
At the time, Mchunu claimed it was no longer necessary because it was not adding value to policing in the province. He also instructed Masemola to halt all processes to fill positions in Crime Intelligence nationally and provincially.
However, Mkhwanazi claimed that there have been no developments in those cases.
According to Mkhwanazi, the reason behind the disbandment of the task team into political killings is that the KwaZulu-Natal task team had unmasked the syndicate behind the killings.
“In the year 2024, a request was received from the Gauteng Organised Crime Investigation Unit to assist with the investigation to dismantle the organised crime syndicate operating in the country and controlled in Gauteng Province. I then took a decision to deploy ten members from the political killings task team to support Gauteng Organised Crime Investigation Unit,” Mkhwanazi said.
“This investigation has unmasked the syndicate, which involves politicians, law enforcement, SAPS, metro police and correctional services, prosecutors, judiciary and controlled by drug cartels as well as businesspeople,” he added.
He confirmed that:
This decision was the cause of the disbandment letter of this team because they overstepped the mandate of this team to dismantle the organised crime syndicate. I can tell South Africans today that the investigation which these members were involved in Gauteng has unmasked the syndicate behind the killings.
He added that this act undermines the criminal justice system of South Africa.
Elaborating on Mchunu’s alleged ties to the underworld and corrupt police officers, Mkhwanazi claimed that on 5 March 2025, the provincial commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal made a presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Police that included the allegations involving an alleged associate of the minister of police, Brown Mogotsi.
According to Mkhwanazi, Mchunu denied knowing Mogotsi in Parliament; however, he confirmed “that he knows this Mr Brown Mogotsi during the telephonic conversation, which was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), under a handle called londcare on 30 March, where he confirmed that this was his comrade from North West Province”.
He further alleged that evidence has been found on the cellphone of flamboyant tenderpreneur and criminally accused businessman Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala, which shows communication between Mogotsi and the minister of police.
Responding to claims made by Mkhwanazi, Sibiya expressed his disappointment and shock at the serious allegations in an interview with the SABC.
“This matter just came to my attention now, and I have not been made aware of all the details. I will certainly respond after I have had an opportunity to ascertain the issues and subject to the relations and protocols. As a disciplined member of the SA police department, I am not going to follow the path that General Mkhwanazi followed,” he said to the SABC.
News24 reached out to Mchunu’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, for comment. “The minister is yet to advise on how he will proceed,” she said.
