By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
National Crime Intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo has alleged that, based on a previous threat analysis, nearly all South African Police Service (SAPS) officers in Gauteng are working for a criminal cartel.
He was testifying on Friday, 16 January 2026, at Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating accusations that a cartel, known as the Big Five, has infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice system, law enforcement, politics and private security.
Khumalo made staggering admissions and allegations, including that police officers were offering protection, for a fee, to crime syndicate members.
EFF leader Julius Malema demanded that Khumalo provide the names of the senior managers and politicians alleged to be in league with these syndicates.
Khumalo declined to identify individuals, citing legal constraints.
His refusal drew sharp criticism from Patriotic Alliance (PA) MP Ashley Sauls. When Khumalo failed to provide a specific number for the officers involved, Sauls referred to his testimony as “reckless”.
“It is not correct for you to make a blanket statement like that without the evidence to back it up here,” Sauls said. “To say you are going to investigate after making such a claim is a reckless and irresponsible statement.”
While answering questions from committee members, Khumalo outlined his stance on comments that Idac head Andrea Johnson previously made while also testifying as a witness.
And this suggested that Khumalo believes that she – or a cyber expert working with or for Idac – has lied.
Responding to questions, Khumalo also said that while Johnson was not part of the cartel that allegedly infiltrated law enforcement, certain Idac actions appeared to be “sympathetic” to it.
Khumalo said that when he was detained, “it did not feel right”.
He described the case he faced as “a pure labour matter” and said the motives behind it appeared to include disrupting reforms he had implemented at Crime Intelligence to clean up the unit.
Relations between Khumalo and Idac have been tenuous.
In June last year, Idac members arrested him, as well as six of his colleagues, in connection with an allegedly irregular appointment.
They denied the accusations, and in this broader scandal, there have been some assertions that Khumalo’s arrest was part of a plot to protect certain crime suspects.
The ad hoc committee is set to resume on Tuesday when former Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride is expected to testify for the first time in the scandal in which his name has been referenced several times.