Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told parliament’s ad hoc committee on police corruption that the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) was procedurally flawed and poorly timed, raising concern about the integrity of decision-making within the security cluster.
Cachalia, appointed on August 1 2025 after Senzo Mchunu was placed on leave, appeared before the committee on Wednesday. Cachalia confirmed that the directive to disband the PKTT was issued by Mchunu on December 31 2024, a move that has since been questioned by senior officials, including national commissioner Fannie Masemola and deputy minister Pauline Boshielo.
Boshielo testified that she became aware of the directive only when it circulated on social media, underscoring the absence of consultation. Masemola described the directive as “suspicious and questionable”, while Cachalia noted that the inter-ministerial committee on political killings had not met for two years before the decision, leaving its status uncertain.
Cachalia told MPs that the PKTT’s dockets were returned on a phased basis after the directive, but he remained dissatisfied with the process. He criticised Masemola for making public statements about the dockets before providing him with the written report he had requested, saying: “What Masemola communicated to me and what he actually did were not consistent.”
He stressed that the relationship between minister and commissioner was critical to the functioning of the system, and that unilateral decisions undermined constitutional principles of accountability and collective cabinet responsibility.
“It is always wrong, as a matter of constitutional interpretation, to interpret each provision on its own. The constitution’s provisions need to be interpreted holistically,” he said.
Former police minister Bheki Cele, in earlier testimony, described the disbandment as a political decision. Cachalia agreed, but emphasised that the procedural defects were the real issue. “To take such an important decision requires sound reasoning. Even when people make wrong decisions, it might have been made in good faith.”
He warned that Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s armed and uniformed media briefing in July conjured “images of a coup d’état”, highlighting the dangers of police officers intervening in the political space. At the same time, he acknowledged that Mkhwanazi may be a whistle-blower deserving protection under the Protected Disclosures Act.
Cachalia confirmed that the PKTT remained necessary given the ongoing assassinations of councillors and whistle-blowers, with the SA Local Government Association reporting at least 17 councillor assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal in a 10-month period. He said the task team should remain in existence ahead of the 2026 municipal elections, which the Electoral Commission of SA has indicated will take place in November. He noted that funding requests for the PKTT had been made, including a R31m allocation sought by Mkhwanazi, but that the matter required further review within the medium-term expenditure framework.
Beyond the PKTT, Cachalia raised broader concerns about corruption and capacity within the criminal justice cluster. He cited the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) findings of systemic corruption at Tembisa Hospital, where syndicates looted more than R2bn through fraudulent tenders, as evidence of the need to strengthen oversight. He said: “We are not going to win the battle against organised crime if we don’t tackle the problems in Crime Intelligence. The problem is one of accountability. The system hasn’t been able to self-correct.”
He supported the recommendations of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, which proposed refocusing the Hawks on organised crime and converting the SIU into an Office of Public Integrity. He also noted shortcomings in the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, particularly its limited whistleblower protections, and stressed that the National Prosecuting Authority must be strengthened, with independence from private sector funding.
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