Hearing record
Day 90
Witness: Julius Mkhwanazi
Evidence led by Adv. Mahlape Sello SC
Suspended Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi returned to the stand as the Commission pressed him on a Rosebank robbery, missing precious stones and his ties to alleged underworld figures. Julius Mkhwanazi is a distinct person from Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner whose allegations sparked the inquiry.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Julius Mkhwanazi, the suspended EMPD deputy chief, resumed testimony under sustained challenge from evidence leaders. He is not the KZN commissioner of the same surname.
- The Commission put to him a 2023 Rosebank operation in which precious stones said to be worth about R14.9 million allegedly went missing.
- Evidence heard earlier came from 'Witness K', described as a former EMPD inspector and a former partner of Mkhwanazi, who implicated him in alleged unlawful activity.
- Mkhwanazi denied ordering or authorising any robbery, telling the panel he gave no such instruction.
- The blue-lights strand, tied to alleged favours for figures linked to Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala and Medicare 24, hung over the session and was set to be tested in detail the next day.
- All allegations remain untested claims before the Commission; Mkhwanazi has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
A suspended metro cop back in the hot seat
Julius Mkhwanazi, suspended as deputy chief of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department, resumed his evidence as the Commission widened its look at alleged criminality inside metro policing. Coverage stressed that he is an entirely different person from Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the KZN commissioner whose July 2025 allegations led President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint the inquiry. According to reporting, Mkhwanazi faced questions spanning corruption, blue-light privileges and stolen precious stones.
The Rosebank precious-stones claim
Evidence leaders returned to a 2023 operation in Rosebank in which gems allegedly valued at roughly R14.9 million are said to have disappeared. Much of the supporting account was attributed to 'Witness K', a former EMPD inspector and former partner of Mkhwanazi. Mkhwanazi denied giving any instruction to commit a robbery. The claims are allegations that the Commission is still testing.
In their words
Key moments from the record
“I did not give any instruction to commit any robbery.”
Our analysis
The bottom line
Day 90 reads as the Commission reconnecting the threads it had left open before the recess: a suspended metro-police boss, a former insider willing to talk, and a cluster of allegations that move from missing gems to blue-light favours. The value of putting Mkhwanazi back on the stand is less about any single admission and more about whether his account holds together once documents, timelines and other witnesses are laid alongside it.
For readers, the naming caution matters. Two men named Mkhwanazi sit at opposite ends of this story: one is the whistle-blower whose claims launched the inquiry, the other is a suspended official answering to it. Conflating them would badly distort the record. On the substance, nothing at this stage is a finding. Mkhwanazi denies wrongdoing, the precious-stones account rests heavily on a single implicated witness, and the presumption of innocence applies until any court or the Commission concludes otherwise.
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 Julius Mkhwanazi connects to
Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi
Routinely confused with the KZN commissioner; Julius Mkhwanazi is the suspended EMPD deputy chief, an entirely different person.
View profile →WhatsApp counterpart in the blue-lights evidenceMichael van Wyk
Evidence led on 22 June 2026 placed Mkhwanazi as the EMPD official van Wyk messaged about blue and red lights, EMPD branding, a draft memorandum of understanding and 'appointment cards' for a specialised unit - including an exchange the evidence leaders read as a possible bribe. Both are presumed innocent.
View profile →Named as mastermind by herWitness K
Witness K, an anonymous JMPD VIP-unit inspector who said she had a romantic relationship with Mkhwanazi, testified on 23 June 2026 that he orchestrated the alleged Killarney precious-stones theft. Untested allegations; both are presumed innocent.
View profile →Blue-lights arrangementVusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala
Evidence tied Matlala's Cat VIP Protection to a draft EMPD memorandum and 'blue lights' arrangement alongside Mkhwanazi. Untested allegations.
View profile →In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
Evidence led by
- Adv. Mahlape Sello SC
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)