By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza has declined a request to hold a parliamentary debate on alleged criminal links to police minister Senzo Mchunu.
Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the police commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal province, said Mchunu and senior national police officials in March seized dockets with information on political killings and effectively froze the probes.
He questioned the motives behind what he said were Mchunu’s plans to disband a task team established to look into the deaths.
The Political Killings Task Team was formed after the 2018 assassination of ANC activist Musawenkosi ‘Qashana’ Mchunu. Backed by a multi-agency presidential task force and praised for its prosecution-led, intelligence-driven strategy, the team had, by 2025, investigated more than 600 politically related dockets, arrested 436 suspects, and recovered 156 firearms, with at least 55 of them linked to political crimes. Convictions to date total over 1,800 years in prison across more than 100 cases.
The disbandment of the task team was followed by a series of internal memos from SAPS Crime Detection head Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya withdrawing 121 case dockets from the team without the approval of the national or provincial commissioners. These dockets have reportedly sat untouched at the SAPS head office ever since.
Mchunu has denied the allegations of interfering with police and misleading parliament.
He said the ‘wild allegations’ required “an urgent”, thorough and transparent investigation, on a proper platform.
“The Minister of Police will never allow his integrity, that of the Ministry or the SAPS at large to be undermined by insinuations made without evidence or due processes, from anyone, including Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi. We will be reviewing the Provincial Commissioner’s statements and consider appropriate action,’ said Mchunu.
Mkhwanazi also accused Mchunu of misleading Parliament about his relationship with an associate allegedly linked to organised crime, and specifically to tenderpreneur Vusumuzi Matlala who, despite facing criminal allegations, was awarded lucrative SAPS tenders.
Didiza said on Wednesday that she had asked the portfolio committees on Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, and the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence to consider the wide-ranging allegations regarding security matters raised by Mkhwanazi, which have implications for the country’s national security.
The committees are to report back to the National Assembly.
“In relation to the debate requested by two political parties, the Speaker believes it would not be appropriate to hold such a debate, as these allegations remain unsubstantiated at this stage,” Didiza said.
Her comments came after the Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA wrote to her requesting an urgent parliamentary debate on corruption within the South African Police Service (SAPS).
The nation now awaits president Cyril Ramaphosa, who promised to urgently look into the matter upon his return from the BRICS Summit.
Ramaphosa emphasised the need to uphold the integrity of the country’s security services. He further warned that the ongoing exchange of accusations could erode public trust and disrupt the cohesion of the police.