Madlanga Commission hearing record
Day 45 of the Madlanga Commission
Witness: Senzo Mchunu
Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu continues his testimony, defending the disbanding of the political killings task team as lawful housekeeping while the commission probes whether the timing shielded people it was investigating.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Mchunu continued responding to allegations that he had links to businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala and alleged intermediary Brown Mogotsi.
- He testified that the National Political Killings Task Team was operating unlawfully and in breach of the Public Finance Management Act, framing its disbandment as a lawful correction.
- The commission heard the underlying allegation, from Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, that the team was disbanded to shield politically connected members of a criminal syndicate from prosecution.
- Justice Madlanga had earlier found it 'very strange' that Mchunu did not raise the planned disbandment with National Commissioner Fannie Masemola when they met at a funeral on 28 December 2024, days before the 31 December directive.
- Mchunu denies the allegations of criminal ties and political interference.
- A parliamentary committee later, in July 2026, cleared Mchunu of links to the underworld, though the commission's own assessment is separate and ongoing.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
Lawful housekeeping or a shield?
Mchunu argued the task team had drifted into unlawful operation and PFMA breaches, casting the disbandment as correcting a governance problem rather than protecting anyone. The commission weighed that against the allegation that the unit was actively investigating Matlala when it was shut down. The competing framings - administrative tidy-up versus obstruction - defined the day.
The funeral meeting that wasn't mentioned
A recurring thread was the 28 December 2024 encounter with National Commissioner Fannie Masemola at a funeral, three days before the disbandment directive. Justice Madlanga had called it 'very strange' that Mchunu said nothing about his plan to a figure so central to policing. Mchunu maintained he had acted properly and denied any improper motive.
Our analysis
The bottom line
The heart of Mchunu's defence is a legal characterisation: if the task team was operating unlawfully, disbanding it looks like duty rather than cover-up. The commission's counter-pressure - the timing, the missing consultation, the funeral silence - probes whether lawful-sounding reasons were the real ones. This is contested territory, and Mchunu's denials are entitled to full weight pending any finding.
It is worth separating fora. A parliamentary committee's July 2026 clearance of Mchunu on underworld links speaks to Parliament's inquiry, not the commission's mandate on political interference in the justice system. Readers should not read one body's conclusion as the other's; the Madlanga process continues on its own record.
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
Who testified this day
Follow the threads
Who Senzo Mchunu connects to
Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
Mkhwanazi's July 2025 briefing and testimony placed Mchunu at the centre of the task-team disbandment claims.
View profile →National Commissioner he allegedly bypassedLieutenant-General Fannie Masemola
Masemola testified the disbandment directive encroached on his operational mandate.
View profile →Co-named over the disbandmentLieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya
Both were named in connection with the weakening of the political killings task team.
View profile →Alleged associateOupa 'Brown' Mogotsi
Mogotsi was described in evidence as an alleged conduit between Mchunu and an alleged cartel figure; both deny wrongdoing.
View profile →Placed him inside IDAC's logistics twiceAdvocate Drushantha Ramsamy
On Day 154 the IDAC state advocate testified that Mchunu's office arranged a flight for a witness in the Crime Intelligence forklift probe; on Day 156 she testified that he arranged for a still-classified Inspector-General of Intelligence report to be carried to IDAC's chief investigator in the Eastern Cape, after the watchdog had refused to release it. Mchunu has answered neither allegation before this commission; untested, presumed innocent.
View profile →Denied by Matlala on the recordVusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala
Testifying on Day 160, Matlala said 'I have never met Minister Mchunu and have had no interactions with him', allowing only correspondence between their attorneys. That denial cuts against the evidence describing Brown Mogotsi as a conduit between the two. A denial on the record, not a finding.
View profile →The complainant whose email his office escalated in 43 minutesFadiel Adams
Adams emailed Mchunu at 08:21 on 1 November 2024 claiming his dockets had been intercepted in two provinces. His chief of staff Cedrick Nkabinde had it with a major-general by 09:04 with a 48-hour reporting deadline, and on 11 November referred the matter to IDAC. On Day 163 the commission established that the interception claim was not correct and Adams conceded the wording; on Day 164 Adams conceded that his contact with Nkabinde had begun before 1 November 2024, contrary to his earlier evidence. Untested; both presumed innocent.
View profile →The associate named as the go-between in Govender's accountMavuso Ntandane
Govender's Day 164 evidence is that Ntandane, whom he described as close to Mchunu, made the approaches and placed the call. Mchunu has rejected the account and Ntandane has not publicly answered it. Both are presumed innocent.
View profile →Alleges Mchunu tried to script his evidence against MkhwanaziLieutenant-Colonel Deenadayalan Govender
On Day 164 the Hawks officer at the centre of the KwaZulu-Natal task-team allegations testified that, on a call placed by a colleague, Mchunu said 'we must not let anyone ruin this country' and instructed them to tell the commission that the police shootings were carried out on Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's instructions. On Day 170 he dated the meeting to 20 August 2026, named the intermediary as Mavuso Ntandane, put the figure at 172 extra-judicial shootings and said he recorded the call: 'I know the minister's voice, I know it was him.' Mchunu denies the allegation and has not answered it before the commission; untested, and both men are presumed innocent.
View profile →The watchdog he is alleged to have drawn in and then outlastedImtiaz Fazel
Fazel's high court affidavit, reported by amaBhungane, News24 and the Daily Maverick in July 2026, is that Mchunu instructed his office in early January 2025 to investigate in parallel the same Crime Intelligence issues he had referred to IDAC, and that the minister's office was central to the investigations and leaks that led both to this commission and to Fazel's own suspension. On Day 156 IDAC's Drushantha Ramsamy testified that Mchunu arranged for the still-classified IGI report to be carried to IDAC's chief investigator after the watchdog refused to release it. Mchunu has answered none of it before this commission; untested, both presumed innocent.
View profile →His office tasked the inspectorate Jacobs ledLieutenant-General Peter Jacobs
The 1 November 2024 complaint from Adams was routed through Mchunu's office to the SAPS Inspectorate under Lieutenant-General Peter Jacobs, which called for the six dockets in order to investigate it. That, the commission established on Day 163, is why the dockets were in Pretoria. No finding has been made against either.
View profile →Put the cost of the task team he disbanded before ParliamentLieutenant-General Puleng Dimpane
As SAPS chief financial officer, Dimpane told Parliament's ad hoc committee in December 2025 that the Political Killings Task Team had incurred R435 million in expenses since its inception, and that consequence management within the service on irregular expenditure was 'ineffective'. A cost figure given in evidence to Parliament, not a justification for the 31 December 2024 directive and not a finding about anyone.
View profile →Zoom out
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A crime intelligence general, a cigarette businessman, and a political leader - the Nyatlo affidavit traces an alleged network of mutual protection spanning police contracts, parliamentary questions, and a private complainant's home address.
Read the case file →In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)