National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola has accused his boss, police minister Senzo Mchunu, of putting him under pressure for months to “unlawfully” disband the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team.
He said he made calls as high as President Cyril Ramaphosa about the matter, but could not avert the situation.
Masemola made the remarks on Monday as the second witness to take the stand at the commission, established by Ramaphosa to investigate allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption within SA’s criminal justice system.
He told the commission that Mchunu did not engage him or any of the police management responsible before issuing the directive to disband the team on December 31 2024.
Masemola, at the time, was on leave.
The interministerial committee on political killings, consisting of ministers of state security, defence, justice and correctional services, was also not briefed before the “drastic” decision was made on New Year’s Eve, he said.
The committee was set up to ensure that the team in its operations fulfilled the mandate to curb political killings.
Mchunu, who is expected to appear before the commission, will have to explain what led to his decision. Mchunu’s disbanding of the political task team is a crucial part of the commission’s probe.
Commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga quizzed Masemola on why he accepted Mchunu’s disbandment of the team while he described the move as an encroachment on SAPS operational matters, arguing it falls outside the minister’s legal powers.
Masemola said he was in a difficult position because “I could not take my own minister to court” and KZN provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s call for help to parliament in March also did not achieve much.
The only avenue available was a gradual implementation of the disbandment, he said.
“I refused to disestablish immediately. The minister was insistent on the disestablishment of the team. Eventually, without any other help and with this minister in front of me insisting, I ended up saying we would do [disband] it my way,” he said.
The national commissioner, earlier on the day, said he would not obey an unlawful instruction.
Masemola said he did not know of any other legal avenue to avoid the situation.
“The only avenue I know is the president. I cannot take my own minister to court; there is no other avenue.”
He said after he explained the situation to the president in February, without requesting him to intervene on operational matters, Ramaphosa said he spoke to Mchunu.
Madlanga said Masemola should have qualified his answer to the commission that he would not obey an unlawful instruction unless the “minister breathes down my neck.”
Despite Mchunu’s insistence on disbanding and rejection of the plan for gradual deactivation of the team, Masemola said he never issued a directive for the KZN team to close shop.
He said deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya went behind his back and ordered the immediate deactivation of the team. The team was not disbanded, but some of Sibiya’s orders were implemented.
Masemola said he was the one who asked crime intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo in 2024 to call the KZN team to come to Gauteng to help with investigations after a whistle-blower told him Sibiya was “close friends” with attempted-murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
Masemola said the whistle-blower also alleged Matlala was implicated in the kidnapping case of businessman Jerry Boshoga, but Gauteng police would not do a good job investigating Matlala. Matlala, at the time, had a R360m SAPS tender.
The whistle-blower told Masemola that Matlala was technically his deputy because he had a say on SAPS operational matters. Masemola said the allegations by the whistle-blower were under investigation and have not yet been proven.
The commission hearings continue on Tuesday.
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