Hearing record
Day 31
Xolani Nciza continues his testimony, alleging that former Ekurhuleni city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi abused her authority to shield suspended EMPD acting chief Julius Mkhwanazi, and that a human resources head stalled Mkhwanazi's suspension.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- On Day 31 (12 November 2025) Nciza names former city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi as the official he says protected Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi from disciplinary consequences.
- Nciza alleges he was told to 'leave Mkhwanazi alone' when he tried to extend the officer's suspension linked to the blue-light scandal.
- He testified that an HR head of department stalled the suspension process, according to SABC News.
- The alleged protection connects municipal HR decisions to the wider blue-light controversy involving EMPD vehicles.
- Nciza's account frames the interference as coming from the top of the city administration rather than from within the police unit alone.
- Mashazi and Mkhwanazi are entitled to respond; the claims are allegations on the record and have not been tested in court.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
The city manager in the frame
IOL reported that Nciza claimed the city manager shielded EMPD's Mkhwanazi, describing how, in his account, former city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi used her powers to protect the suspended acting EMPD chief. Nciza said his attempt to extend Mkhwanazi's suspension, tied to the blue-light saga, was met with an instruction to leave the officer alone.
A suspension that stalled
SABC News reported that Nciza alleged the metro's human resources head of department stalled the suspension of Julius Mkhwanazi. In Nciza's telling, the disciplinary track that should have run its course was instead slowed and diverted by senior officials, leaving the allegations against Mkhwanazi unresolved within the city's own processes.
Our analysis
The bottom line
The second day of Nciza's evidence sharpens a claim of institutional capture at municipal level: not that a single officer misbehaved, but that the administration's most senior manager and its HR function allegedly bent to protect him. If accepted, that pattern would explain why complaints Nciza says he raised did not translate into completed disciplinary action.
For the commission, the useful feature of these allegations is that they are testable. Suspension letters, HR correspondence and the timeline of Mkhwanazi's case can be measured against Nciza's narrative. Until that happens, the archive records his account as one side of a contested story, and Dr Mashazi and Brigadier Mkhwanazi remain presumed innocent of any wrongdoing.
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)