Witness
KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner · KwaZulu-Natal
Testified · complainant
The KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner of the South African Police Service whose 6 July 2025 press briefing triggered the Madlanga Commission. He alleged that a criminal syndicate linked to a drug cartel had infiltrated the police, prosecution and intelligence services, and that the political killings task team had been disbanded to shield those interests. He appeared as the commission's first witness in its opening days (Days 1-3, 17-19 September 2025), giving evidence as the complainant - not an accused - and has not returned to the witness stand since. His allegations remain the spine of the inquiry: in July 2026, as IDAC investigator Brian Padayachee testified about the directorate's case against Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo, Padayachee said Mkhwanazi had known in advance of, and had no issue with, Khumalo's arrest - a characterisation set against Mkhwanazi's own public criticism of that probe.
This profile summarises testimony and evidence given on the public record before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. It restates allegations as presented at the hearings and is not a finding of guilt, liability, or wrongdoing by any person.
Their role
At his 6 July 2025 briefing, Mkhwanazi alleged that an organised-crime syndicate, ultimately controlled by an international drug cartel, had embedded itself across police, prosecutors, the judiciary, metro police and correctional services, and that politicians, prosecutors and police officials interfered at the high end of cases.
He alleged the KZN Political Killings Task Team was disbanded by then police minister Senzo Mchunu just as it closed in on Gauteng syndicates, testifying that 'someone influenced' the decision and that dissolving the team would have collapsed the criminal-justice value chain.
Mkhwanazi alleged that 121 dockets were taken from the KwaZulu-Natal task team at the start of 2025 and left unworked before being returned, framing this as the obstruction of active investigations into political killings.
He alleged that seized phones carried WhatsApp messages connecting North-West businessman Brown Mogotsi, described as an associate of the minister, to murder-accused Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, and that Mogotsi knew of the task team's disbandment before he did.
His allegations implicated suspended deputy national commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya and other senior figures in interfering with sensitive investigations; he presented documents and communications to support the claims.
On the stand
Connections
National Head, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), 2018 to 2025
The 6 December 2024 arrest of Katiso Molefe was carried out by the KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team, the unit at the centre of Mkhwanazi July 2025 allegations. On Day 168 the retired Hawks national head told the commission the Hawks presence at the scene was verification of an impostor report, not interference. Untested; no finding has been made.
View profile →Named as the go-between in an alleged bid to implicate himNamed in evidence as an associate of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu
Lieutenant-Colonel Deena Govender told the commission on Day 164 that Ntandane, described as close to Senzo Mchunu, pressed him to give evidence naming Mkhwanazi as the source of instructions for the KwaZulu-Natal shootings. The allegation is untested.
View profile →Subject of his allegationsMinister of Police (on special leave)
Mkhwanazi alleged Mchunu disbanded the political killings task team to shield politically connected interests.
View profile →Corroborated byNational Commissioner of the South African Police Service (on precautionary suspension)
National Commissioner Masemola's early testimony largely supported Mkhwanazi's account of the task-team disbandment.
View profile →Implicated in his evidenceSuspended Deputy National Commissioner of Police (Crime Detection)
Mkhwanazi named Sibiya among the senior officers he alleged interfered with investigations.
View profile →Named in his evidenceNorth West businessman
Mkhwanazi described Mogotsi as a conduit between the minister and an alleged cartel figure.
View profile →Distinct person, same surnameSuspended Deputy Chief, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD)
Frequently confused with him; Julius Mkhwanazi is the suspended EMPD deputy chief, an entirely different person.
View profile →Cited his prosecution as police infightingHead, SAPS Crime Intelligence
Returning on Day 138 (13 July 2026), Mkhwanazi told the commission IDAC was being used by senior police in internal fights and pointed to the criminal charge against the Crime Intelligence head. IDAC investigator Brian Padayachee disputed his account. Competing accounts on the record, not findings.
View profile →The IPID evidence returns to his provinceDeputy director for investigations, Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), KwaZulu-Natal
The commission exists because of Mkhwanazi's July 2025 allegations about criminal infiltration of policing in KwaZulu-Natal. On Day 157 IPID's provincial investigations chief Len John gave the first sustained account of what SAPS task teams in that province have been doing, covering 149 deaths between April 2023 and 31 May 2026. Untested; no finding either way.
View profile →Meeting confirmed by Matlala, contents withheldBusinessman; alleged 'Big Five' cartel figure
On Day 160 Matlala confirmed he had met Mkhwanazi - reportedly in 2025, about the Medicare24 contract and a warrant of arrest - but claimed the privilege against self-incrimination over what was discussed. Mkhwanazi has denied any improper relationship with Matlala; untested either way.
View profile →The man he accused of misusing Crime Intelligence materialMember of Parliament and leader, National Coloured Congress
In his September 2025 evidence Mkhwanazi alleged that MP Fadiel Adams had obtained Crime Intelligence information he was not entitled to and used it recklessly to pursue charges against members of the Political Killings Task Team. The commission's Rule 3 notice of 3 October 2025 asked Adams to answer those allegations; Adams gave evidence over Days 162 to 164 (19 to 21 August 2026), which was taken up with his correspondence, his credibility and the section 27 referral rather than the substance of Mkhwanazi's allegation. It remains unanswered on the record. Untested; both presumed innocent.
View profile →The acting national commissioner who is said to have demanded an explanation from himActing National Commissioner of the South African Police Service
Per the Sowetan, Govender testified on Day 170 that Dimpane gave Mkhwanazi seven days to explain his June 2026 Pretoria media briefing, held while Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo was reporting to Brooklyn police station on an IDAC warrant. An internal SAPS process described by a third party from the witness box. Untested, and no allegation of wrongdoing against either officer.
View profile →The officer who says he was pressured to implicate himHead of the Hawks' KwaZulu-Natal provincial tracing team; former commander of the province's cash-in-transit task team, South African Police Service
On Day 164 Lieutenant-Colonel Deenadayalan Govender, the Hawks officer at the centre of the KwaZulu-Natal task-team allegations, testified that he was approached and pressured to give evidence implicating Mkhwanazi, and that suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu instructed him on a call to tell the commission that the police shootings had been carried out on Mkhwanazi's instructions. On Day 170 he put the figure at 172 extra-judicial shootings, dated the meeting to 20 August 2026 and said he recorded it: 'I know the minister's voice, I know it was him.' He also testified that acting national commissioner Lieutenant-General Puleng Dimpane had given Mkhwanazi seven days to explain the June 2026 Khumalo briefing, and that Mkhwanazi told him 'you were not supposed to know about this'. Untested; Mchunu denies it and all named are presumed innocent.
View profile →Sources