Hearing record

Day 4

22 September 2025

Witness: Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola

Evidence led by Advocate Mahlape Sello SC

The head of the South African Police Service takes the stand. National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola gives evidence that, in large part, corroborates Mkhwanazi's account - most pointedly on how and why the Political Killings Task Team was disbanded.

Official transcript (PDF) ↗All hearing days

Awaiting portrait

The day in brief

What you need to know

SAPS National Commissioner Fannie Masemola testifies, with his evidence largely corroborating Mkhwanazi's earlier claims.
Masemola describes how the KZN Political Killings Task Team was formed and how it came to be disbanded.
He characterises then minister Senzo Mchunu's order for immediate disbandment as an encroachment on the national commissioner's constitutional mandate.
He tells the commission he informed President Ramaphosa about Mchunu's attempt to disband the task team.
His validation, coming from the head of the SAPS, elevates Mkhwanazi's concerns from a political disagreement toward an institutional position.
Commissioners noted points where Masemola's statements appeared contradictory, which evidence leaders probed.

Full coverage

The day, in depth

The commissioner corroborates

News24 and Corruption Watch's week-two wrap reported that Masemola gave evidence on 22 September 2025 in Pretoria and that his submission largely backed Mkhwanazi's initial claims. Because the corroboration came from the national commissioner himself, commentators described it as pivotal, moving the dispute over the task team from contested politics toward accepted fact among senior police leadership.

'Encroachment' on the mandate

According to EWN and IOL, Masemola told the commission that Mchunu's order for the immediate disbandment of the PKTT intruded on his own constitutional powers as national commissioner. He said he had informed President Ramaphosa about the minister's attempt to disband the unit. Mchunu is suspended and has not been convicted of any offence; he is entitled to respond to these allegations.

Contradictions probed

EWN reported that the commission was left baffled by some of Masemola's statements, which appeared to contradict one another, and that evidence leaders pressed him on the inconsistencies. The exchanges underlined that corroboration of Mkhwanazi did not mean Masemola's own account went unchallenged.

In their words

Key moments from the record

“totally encroachment into the mandate of the national commissioner in terms of performance of my duty”

A minister overstepping the mandate. Explaining why Mchunu's instruction to disband the task team troubled him, Masemola framed it as a breach of the constitutional division of powers between the minister and the national commissioner.

Our analysis

The bottom line

Masemola's appearance was the moment the commission's central allegation stopped being one man's account. When the national commissioner of police tells a judicial inquiry that a minister's instruction encroached on his constitutional mandate, and that he took his concerns to the president, the disbandment of the task team can no longer be dismissed as an internal disagreement.

At the same time, the day showed why corroboration is not the same as vindication. The commission openly noted contradictions in Masemola's evidence, and evidence leaders pressed them. A witness can strengthen the broader narrative while still leaving genuine questions about the reliability of specific claims, and the inquiry is entitled to weigh both.

Nothing at this stage amounts to a finding of wrongdoing against Mchunu or anyone else named. Masemola offered his interpretation of the law and his recollection of events; the minister and other officials retain the presumption of innocence and the right to give their own version before the commission draws conclusions.

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.

On the record