Police minister Senzo Mchunu has been accused of colluding with alleged organised crime syndicates to undermine the work of police units by one of its most senior officials, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
The damning allegations will reverberate across the political spectrum, given that Mchunu is among the senior ANC leaders set to contest for the party presidency at its national conference in 2027.
Mkhwanazi alleged that the specialised and effective political killings task team was disbanded by Mchunu in December last year. In January, February and April this year, the deputy national police commissioner, Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, told the task team in writing to submit all their case dockets to his office.
More than 120 case dockets were sent to his office in March and have not been acted on since. Mkhwanazi provided WhatsApp messages from murder accused and tenderpreneur Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Brown Mogotsi, an alleged associate of Mchunu.
“I have arranged a meeting for Sibiya and the minister, they must have a solution,” a message from Mogotsi to Matlala allegedly said. Another message said: “The task team that came to your house and harassed you has been dissolved; they got the letter on Monday. As we speak, they are bringing all the dockets to Sibiya.”
Investigative reports revealed that Matlala had been awarded a R360m SAPS health services tender, which was cancelled days before his arrest earlier this month. He was arrested, with his wife, for an attack on socialite and actress Tebogo Thobejane, according to News24.
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The simmering battles in the country’s crime-fighting architecture exploded into the public domain on Sunday during an extraordinary press conference by Mkhwanazi at which he declared that he would “fight to the end” in what he described as a “war” with senior officials, which appears to reach all the way up to Mchunu.
Opposition parties have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to take immediate action against Mchunu.
The EFF called for his immediate suspension. The DA said it would write to the speaker of parliament calling for an urgent debate on the allegations raised by Mkhwanazi. Rise Mzansi called on Ramaphosa to address the nation as soon as he returns from official business abroad. Ramaphosa is attending the Brics summit in Brazil.
Sibiya and Mchunu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday. However, Mchunu told the SABC that he would study the allegations and respond at a later stage.
In April, Mchunu described his relationship with Mkhwanazi as “very good”.
“If you want to be specific and say, ‘what are my relations with commissioner Mkhwanazi’, they are very good relations. I have very good relations with all [the provincial commissioners]. They’re doing their work well,” Mchunu said at the time.
He was responding to reports that police watchdog the Independent Complaints Directorate had cleared Mkhwanazi of wrongdoing in alleged interference in the arrest of a senior official from correctional services in 2023.
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