Hearing record
Day 28
Witness: Chief Isaac Mapiyeye. Continuing his evidence, the suspended EMPD chief tells the commission that his attempts to discipline his deputy led to his own downfall, alleging obstruction by senior Ekurhuleni officials and a chain of suspensions that ended in sexual-harassment charges against him.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Mapiyeye continued on 7 November 2025, testifying that every attempt to discipline Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi was frustrated, ultimately leading to his own suspension.
- He alleged Mkhwanazi illegally granted blue-light privileges to businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala and manipulated tender and recruitment processes to benefit associates.
- Mapiyeye said his disciplinary efforts were blocked by city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi, HR head Linda Gxasheka and the HOD of legal services, Advocate Behaari.
- He told the commission this obstruction led to him being suspended on numerous occasions, culminating in disciplinary charges for alleged sexual harassment.
- The DA publicly welcomed the EMPD revelations aired at the commission, calling for accountability in the metro police.
- All allegations are untested and those named, including Julius Mkhwanazi and the officials cited, are presumed innocent; the sexual-harassment charges against Mapiyeye are themselves unproven.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
Discipline that boomeranged
YFM reported that the suspended EMPD chief told the commission that disciplining his deputy led to his own downfall. Mapiyeye said his attempts to hold Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi to account were repeatedly frustrated by senior Ekurhuleni officials - the city manager, the HR head and the legal-services HOD - and that he was suspended multiple times before facing sexual-harassment charges himself.
Blue lights and a familiar name
Among the allegations Mapiyeye levelled was that Mkhwanazi illegally granted blue-light privileges to businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, a figure central to other strands of the commission's work, and manipulated tender and recruitment processes. The DA welcomed the EMPD revelations, according to Polity. The claims are untested; those named are presumed innocent.
Our analysis
The bottom line
The power of Mapiyeye's second day is the counter-narrative it invites. He casts himself as a chief punished for trying to clean house, with obstruction running through the municipality's most senior administrative and legal offices. If accurate, that is a portrait of a disciplinary system captured from above. But the same testimony carries its own complication: Mapiyeye is himself suspended and facing sexual-harassment charges, which he frames as retaliation - a framing the commission cannot simply accept at face value.
The recurrence of Matlala's name is the detail that ties this metro-level dispute back to the commission's spine. The blue-lights allegation, if tested and substantiated, would connect EMPD appointment battles to the same private-security and cartel questions running through other chapters. For now these remain competing accounts inside a fractured department, and every person named - Mkhwanazi, the cited officials, and Mapiyeye himself - retains the presumption of innocence.
Analysis is the archive’s own comment on the public proceedings, grounded in the record above. It weighs the evidence and the process; questions of individual guilt are for the courts and the commission to decide. Everyone named is presumed innocent.
In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)
Sources
- YFM (Y World) - Suspended EMPD chief says disciplining deputy led to his downfall (7 November 2025) ↗
- Polity - DA welcomes EMPD revelations at Madlanga Commission (12 November 2025) ↗
- Daily Maverick - Political killings task team and crime strategies: key takeaways from the week's testimonies (7 November 2025) ↗