By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Madlanga Commission has resumed its inquiry into allegations of corruption and political infiltration in the justice system at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria.
The commission was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa following corruption and infiltration of the judiciary allegations by KZN Police commissioner, Lt-Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
KZN Acting Deputy Provincial Commissioner, Major-General Anthony Gopaul, was the first witness to testify at the commission on Monday.
Gopaul told the commission that the suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu arrived at a local police station and called for investigations into cases involving Doshie Govender, including the immediate arrest of his son in connection with a housebreaking case.
“I explained to the minister that whilst we wanted to assist him, the difficulty was that it was unclear in what capacity he approached us,” Gopaul said.
He told the commission that Mchunu was wearing an ANC T-shirt and that “his comrades placed him in a predicament and wanted to see basically how he uses that position”.
“The minister was of the opinion that the community has a sense of frustration that we are doing nothing about Govender and his son’s behaviour,” said Gopaul.
He said he informed Mchunu that the housebreaking case had been withdrawn because the witness statement was no longer admissible.
Gopaul said “it was slightly uncomfortable” that the entire community was suddenly angry with “somebody who had won the previous landslide elections”, adding that Mchunu’s complaints related only to Govender, which was unusual.
He said it was “a bit odd and mischievous” that Govender’s alleged criminal conduct was raised only after he had defected from the ANC to the MK party.
“According to the minister, the police officers were doing nothing until we unpacked each and every case that the particular candidate was charged for previously and the outcomes of those cases, and there [were] no new cases,” he said.
Gopaul also testified about a separate interaction with Mchunu after the killing of Mandeni local municipality ward councillor Phendukani Mabhida, who was shot by unknown gunmen at his home in KwaSithebe township.
He said Mchunu contacted him after the shooting and was briefed on what had occurred. The matter was initially investigated by a Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) that has been at the centre of the inquiry, an arrangement Mchunu questioned.
Mchunu disbanded the task team in a directive via WhatsApp in December 2024. Mkhwanazi, national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and task team leader and crime intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo have testified that Mchunu was instigated by criminal cartels.
Mchunu has denied the accusation and said he was implementing a police research study which recommended the task team’s disbandment.
“The first I came to understand some kind of contention around this issue of the political task team and the minister was when I viewed and watched the portfolio committee where General Mkhwanazi was narrating a story about the political task team,” Gopaul said.
He testified that he briefed Mchunu that the suspects linked to the councillor’s murder would appear in court on the firearm charges and thereafter, would be transferred to the task team.
“From my training and my 35 years of historical institutionalised protocol, it is not in accordance with the law of protocol for me to interact with the minister without the specific direction of my principal,” he said.
Magaqa’s assasination
The commission also heard that an undercover crime operative knew about the plot to assassinate former ANC Youth League secretary Sindiso Magaqa weeks before he was gunned down in 2017.
Testifying as Witness E, the crime operative, that he became aware of the planned hit directly from the triggerman.
At the time, Witness X was working undercover on a project.
After receiving the information, Witness X reported it to his superiors and proposed several steps that could have been taken to prevent the assassination.
However, he said his efforts were met with failure as they did not want to listen to him.
Continuing his testimony, Witness E further told the commission that one of the shooters was a police informant and that the alleged assailants were his superiors.
Commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga questioned why Witness E would report the plot to officials who were allegedly involved in facilitating the murder.
In response, Witness E said that at the time he raised the alarm, his superiors were not yet aware that they would be approached to assist in the killing.
This was why he was able to propose that police seize the vehicle and AK-47 rifle supplied to the informant in order to allegedly stop the assassination.
He told the commission that the same senior officers he had warned later provided the vehicle and firearm used in Magaqa’s murder.
Mchunu accused of coercing witness
Witness E told the commission that Mchunu pressured him about the Political Killings Task Team’s (PKTT) operations, asking him if he knew of any victims of the PKTT or if he had any documents or reports that are damning to the PKTT.
I informed him that I didn’t know of victims of the PKTT because I have never worked with them. He then said I should look for them or evidence of people who were victimised by the PKTT,” he said.
Witness E testified that Mchunu has been calling him from different numbers since last year.
In one of the calls Mchunu allegedly dictated a statement to Witness E, telling him to compile it for submission to his lawyers and potential use in Witness E’s testimony.
He said Mchunu wanted a statement saying crime intelligence provided unlicensed firearms and a stolen car, via a secret service account, to hitmen Jabulani Mdunge and Sibusiso Ncengwa, who killed former ANC youth league secretary general Sindiso Magaqa in 2017.
Mchunu also wanted a statement implicating General Dumisani Khumalo, head of crime intelligence, in covering up involvement of crime intelligence members in wrongdoings. The statement said Khumalo, who led the PKTT from 2018 and became crime intelligence head in 2022, has not acted on information about crime intelligence members’ involvement despite his position.
The witness further said Mchunu wanted him to falsely state they discussed his promotion in 2025, with Mchunu allegedly promising to escalate the matter with SAPS.
The Madlanga Commission continues on Tuesday, with KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona expected to testify.