The Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System – informally known as the Madlanga Commission after its chairperson, retired acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga – started its hearings on Wednesday 17 September 2025.
President Cyril Ramaphosa established the commission as a response to allegations, made on 6 July 2025 by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, that South Africa’s criminal justice system was compromised because of the infiltration of criminal syndicates into police, judicial, parliamentary, political, intelligence, and law enforcement structures.
Mkhwanazi has been the only witness these past three days. On taking the stand, he said his testimony would cover two main themes: the KZN Political Killings Task Team, which currently suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu disbanded earlier this year, and “the criminality, the political interference, as well as the corruption within the criminal justice system”.
Day 1
The first day got off to an interesting but slow start, with introductory addresses by Madlanga and chief evidence leader Adv Terry Motau, before evidence leader Adv Mahlape Sello, assisted by evidence leader Ofentse Mohlasedi, started with Mkhwanazi’s testimony. Most of the morning was taken up by explanations of Mkhwanazi’s police career, the constitutional and legal duties and responsibilities of the police service and minister, the structure of police ranks and forms of address of officers, and the PKTT, where he provided details of the reason for and timeframe of the unit’s establishment.
Further testimony covered the unit’s operational details such as mandate, strategy, funding, and budget.
The afternoon provided tragic detail about the fatal shooting of Armand Swart on 17 April 2024. Swart was an engineer working for an independent company which had uncovered evidence of corruption and procurement fraud in a Transnet contract, and his death is thought to be a case of mistaken identity, with killers incorrectly identifying him as a more senior employee. Mkhwanazi said the killing was linked to the contract and may also have involved “organised crime and to some degree it involved police corruption”. A later threat assessment identified considerable risk to the team of investigators, said Mkhwanazi.
Members of the PKTT were deployed, with Mkhwanazi’s approval, to Gauteng to assist in the search for Swart’s killers, and this led to the arrest of a fourth suspect – three were already in custody, and one was on the run but was finally arrested in December – and a search and seizure operation at the property of Vusimusi ‘Cat’ Matlala, a Pretoria-based businessman. Matlala is one of those named in Mkhwanazi’s startling revelations.
This led into a discussion of the disbandment of the PKTT, which Mkhwanazi said he heard about via a letter in January 2025. This was the final straw that compelled him to go public in July with his allegations.
The provincial commissioner expressed his disagreement with Mchunu’s view that the unit was not bringing any value to police operations in the province, saying that it was in fact successful. He added that he feels Mchunu may have been ‘influenced’ in making the decision.
“Someone thought that the Political Killings Task Team was the one responsible for the investigations in Gauteng towards these criminal syndicates.”
Mkwanazi briefly touched on the contentious transfer of 121 case dockets from the PKTT’s offices to the national police office in Pretoria, where they reportedly sat untouched for months. The dockets were returned to the PKTT on 28 August, with all contents intact.
Day 2
The testimony returned to the fate of the PKTT. Sello asked Mkhwanazi to explain how Mhunu’s decision affected the unit’s operations. He replied that the team continued working, albeit with fewer members, and added that budgetary constraints may have played a role.
This reduced capacity – not to mention the complete disbandment of the unit – would have compromised the delivery of justice to crime victims. Mkhwanazi mentioned a letter from Elaine Zungu, the provincial director of public prosecutions, expressing her concerns on the matter. Reading the letter to the inquiry, Mkhwanazi conveyed Zungu’s confusion regarding whether the PKTT had been disbanded or not and her insistence that any decision to withdraw a political killing case be supported by a written report.
Zungu’s questions appeared to indicate that the National Prosecuting Authority was not involved in or consulted on the disbandment of the PKTT.
Led by Sello, Mkhwanazi then addressed the challenges faced by law enforcement in investigating and resolving political killings. He spoke of the murder of witnesses, intimidation of both witnesses and prosecutors and investigators, witnesses’ decision to withdraw from cases and not testify, the release on bail of suspects who potentially should remain behind bars, and other forms of interference in cases.
Further discussion centred on the ramifications of the PKTT disbandment, and Mkhwanazi’s efforts to halt it. “My efforts, starting from the day I became aware of the letter of the minister leading up to 6 July, were all aimed at making sure I protect this working arrangement of ours to administer justice to the communities out there.”
When a power structure tries to disrupt the process, he said, or when players within the system collude with outside players, it is “important for us to do something about it”.
As early as January, Mkhwanazi was openly expressing his belief that Mchunu may have been influenced, saying this openly in a 27 January interview with eNCA. He referred back to this interview, saying he believed Mchunu was swayed by someone who had “whispered in the Minister’s ear that the team was investigating cases that might link his or her associates”.
This has led to a situation where the PKTT was fighting for its very existence against forces within the state apparatus, he said.
The rest of the day’s testimony focused on the 6 July media briefing, mention of various Mchunu associates including Matlala, Brown Mogotsi, and Katiso Molefe, and Mkhwanazi’s displeasure with the conduct of MPs Dianne Kohler Barnard and Fadiel Adams. The former abused her power and interfered with Crime Intelligence work, he said, and the latter gained unauthorised access to and exposed sensitive information. The two have since refuted these claims.
All those named will get an opportunity to defend themselves in phase two of the hearings.
Day 3
The day started off with Sello leading Mkhwanazi in testimony to clarify Mchunu’s relationship with Mogotsi, and his own dealings with the North West businessman. Mogotsi had contacted Mkhwanazi, via WhatsApp, in September 2024 with a complaint regarding a smear campaign against him (Mogotsi). To support his claim, Mogotsi sent pictures of police documents which are not available to the public, including a police report and police occurrence book. Mogotsi should not have had access to those documents, he said.
Mchunu, meanwhile, had first denied before Parliament that he knew Mogotsi and then later, in a statement, had admitted the opposite was true.
During this portion of Mkhwanazi’s testimony, images of his WhatsApp communication with Mogotsi were projected onto screens in the auditorium. Later he was asked to read aloud further messages, which the commission did not have.
He also revealed Mogotsi’s insinuations that Mkhwanazi’s conduct had been the subject of discussion at a crime intelligence meeting – something the businessman, as a civilian, should not know. When asked for more details, Mogotsi responded that a General Khan would brief Mkhwanazi – but the only General Khan he knew of was Feroz Khan, a deputy national commissioner at Crime Intelligence.
Mkhwanazi moved on to the communication between Mogotsi and Matlala that apparently discussed the imminent disbandment of the PKTT. These messages were discovered during a Gauteng counter-intelligence investigation involving the PKTT, which eventually led to Matlala’s and Molefe’s arrests. The messages also refer to the transfer of dockets to Deputy Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya – who is also currently suspended. This exchange took place in January – three months before Sibiya made the formal request for the dockets.
How did Mogotsi know these details? Mkhwanazi is of the view that Mchunu had “shared too much” with Mogotsi and that the latter has some influence over the suspended police minister. He deduced this because of Mogotsi’s access to information that would not have been made public.
Other topics covered by Mkhwanazi during the afternoon included what he views as Mchunu’s inappropriate interference in police operations, allegations of impropriety from some judicial office bearers, the withdrawal of charges against former crime intelligence head Richard Mdluli, the doings of Shadrack Sibiya, and other matters.
This concluded Mkhwanazi’s testimony. Police commissioner Fannie Masemola takes the stand on Monday 22 September.
