By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Madlanga Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System heard that an audit and inspection of the 121 Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) dockets revealed serious shortcomings.
Last week, the inquiry heard testimony highlighting alleged irregularities and operational challenges within the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD).
Witness D alleged that EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi ordered him to dump the body of a suspect killed by EMPD officers in a bid to cover up a murder.
He testified partially in-camera at the commission on Friday about how the incident played out.
He eventually reported the crime to the Hawks and IPID, but officers warned him that the involved group was very dangerous.
On Monday, the commission heard that deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya ordered the removal of the 121 dockets in May after suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu disbanded the task team in December 2024.
Head of the SAPS Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, Mary Motsepe, said the dockets originated from her office and were sent to the KwaZulu-Natal task team in 2018. Sibiya instructed her to collect the dockets from crime intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo for an audit, which did not require the transfer.
She added that KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi later refused to receive the dockets after the audit and said they were no longer his responsibility.
National commissioner Fannie Masemola expressed the same sentiments and said Sibiya should use his discretion on what to do about the audited dockets, Motsepe added.
Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia subsequently returned the dockets to the task team in August.
He has told parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating similar claims of police corruption that Mchunu should have consulted before issuing the letter and that task teams were not meant to be permanent.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ntate Khumalo, who testified after Motsepe told the commission that he learned about the task team’s disbandment letter on social media while awaiting the unit’s budget approval.
“We had already submitted the financial documents for January, then comes this letter,” he said, adding that he called crime intelligence head Khumalo, his immediate commander and task team project coordinator, to ask about the letter.
The commission has previously heard that Mchunu disbanded the team to protect Gauteng criminal syndicates. Senior police officials have accused murder co-accused Vusimuzi Matlala and Katiso Molefe, the alleged leaders of the Big Five cartel, of instigating Mchunu to disband the task team.
Khumalo, former PKTT member, said that the crime intelligence boss instructed the task team officers to monitor ongoing court cases and not to touch investigations. Lieutenant Khumalo noted that he subsequently called task team leaders to ask if they had heard about the letter.
“The comments that I heard from the commanders were not nice. It damaged them. It left scars because there were cases that were remanded to January … other members were out working on the 31st [December] when this letter surfaced, “he said.
“I even suggested to General Khumalo that, General, could I coordinate that members get employee wellness to come and address them, because they didn’t take it likely?”.
On 10 January, more than a week after the disbandment letter, Mkhwanazi addressed task team members.
“He assured them that, ‘you are soldiers on the ground, continue doing policing and investigating by preventing and combating crime, we at the executive level, we’ll attend to the letter, “Lieutenant Khumalo testified.