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Hearing record

Day 33

EMPD media head Lieutenant-Colonel Kelebogile Thepa gives emotional testimony, telling the commission she was threatened, followed and robbed after she flagged a media enquiry into the EMPD blue-light saga, and that Julius Mkhwanazi disbanded the department's media unit.

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Still from Day 33 of the Madlanga Commission

The day in brief

What you need to know

  • Day 33 (14 November 2025) hears from Lieutenant-Colonel Kelebogile Thepa, the EMPD's head of media and public relations.
  • Thepa testified that she was victimised and targeted after alerting the EMPD to a media enquiry about vehicles linked to Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala registered to the department.
  • She described a July 2023 incident in which three men confronted her in her sister's car outside her home and robbed her of her cellphone, an attack she believes was about information rather than valuables.
  • Thepa said a vehicle allegedly linked to Mkhwanazi had followed her in the days before the attack, and that colleagues openly discussed how easily she could be removed.
  • She testified that Deputy Chief Julius Mkhwanazi disbanded the EMPD media unit, and that the EMPD chief tried to smear her name, per SABC News.
  • Days after testifying, on 17 November 2025, the City of Ekurhuleni reinstated Thepa as EMPD spokesperson.
  • Thepa's account consists of allegations given under oath; those she names are presumed innocent.

Full coverage

The day, in depth

A media enquiry that drew a target

The Mercury and YFM reported that Thepa told the commission her disclosure of a media enquiry into the EMPD blue-light saga, including vehicles connected to 'Cat' Matlala registered to the department, placed her under what she called a threatening, watchful eye. Fighting back tears, she recounted a July 2023 confrontation by three men outside her home who took her phone while leaving cash and a new car untouched, which she read as proof they wanted information, not property.

Smears, a disbanded unit and reinstatement

SABC News reported Thepa's evidence that the EMPD chief tried to smear her name and that Deputy Chief Julius Mkhwanazi disbanded the department's media unit. IOL, eNCA and EWN subsequently reported that the City of Ekurhuleni reinstated Lieutenant-Colonel Thepa as EMPD spokesperson on 17 November 2025, saying the move was intended to restore public confidence in the unit.

In their words

Key moments from the record

“I was numb, mute, non-responsive... trying to make sense of what was happening.”
Thepa recalls the moment of the attack. Describing the July 2023 confrontation outside her home, Thepa broke down as she told the commission how she froze when three men approached the car.
“All they wanted was the phone and whatever information they believed was on it.”
'All they wanted was the phone'. Explaining why she believes the robbery was about information rather than theft, Thepa noted the attackers ignored cash and a new car.

Our analysis

The bottom line

Thepa's testimony shifts the Ekurhuleni evidence from the mechanics of stalled discipline to its human cost. Where Nciza described processes that failed, Thepa describes what she says happened to a person who spoke up: surveillance, an attack and professional isolation. For a commission examining whether the criminal justice system protects or punishes those who expose wrongdoing, that is directly on point.

The selectivity she describes in the robbery, phone taken, valuables left, is the detail that will invite scrutiny, because it points to motive rather than opportunism. The commission cannot by itself resolve who was behind the 2023 incident, and Brigadier Mkhwanazi and other named officials are presumed innocent of any role. Her reinstatement three days later is notable: it suggests the city moved quickly to be seen acting on her account, though it does not by itself confirm the allegations she made.

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

← Earlier in timeDay 3213 November 2025More recent →Day 3417 November 2025