Mchunu Gave Testimony to Ad Hoc Committee on October 16-17

(The Post News)– On October 16-17, suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu made an appearance at the parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee at the Good Hope Chambers.

The media was allowed to have access to full coverage of the meeting, with Mchunu offering his evidence and then returning the following week for detailed questioning from the MPs. Mchunu was obligated to testify under oath before the committee. There were documents containing evidence present, and they were sorted into different categories using various labels and exhibits; some of these documents were inclusive of witness statements and would therefore be used as reference.

As Senzo Mchunu was made aware of the reason as to why he was summoned, the committee was obligated to investigate serious allegations raised by Kwa-Zulu-Natal Police General Lieutenant Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, on the 6th of July 2025, regarding political interference, corruption, and undue influence within the South African Police Service.

Mkhwanazi publicly claimed that Mchunu ordered the disbandment of the Police Killings Task Team (PKTT) without giving proper information, and that this action might have been intended to block investigations into politically motivated murders or protect criminal groups that could involve the South African Police Service. The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, placed Senzo Mchunu on special leave, commencing in July 2025. He also initiated a judicial commission of inquiry into these allegations.

“Everyone was aware that this was a task team. A unit would be deliberately established as part of the organogram of the police for a long period of time. Task teams are for a particular purpose and time frame.” Senzo Mchunu stated.

Mchunu Offers Details of His Political Career

Mchunu was asked to give a brief background on how he was appointed to all the positions in Parliament he previously had, including the one he is currently suspended from. He stated, “I imagined that at that time, I went there not knowing that it would happen. When it happened, I welcomed it and accepted it,”

However, the suspended police minister said that he had a lot on his plate at the moment, so he didn’t have much time to think about the appointment until he had time to consider what it meant and how he would carry out his duties as Minister of Police. He emphasized that taking on the role meant that he had an immense responsibility on his shoulders, especially in a crime-infested country like South Africa.

He informed the MPs that the National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemla, had withheld key evidence from the Madlanga Commission. judicial inquiry set up by Cyril Ramaphosa to probe and investigate the disbandment of the Police Killings Task Team and wider claims of political interference within the justice system. He stated that “Mine was to give effect to the work-study outcomes.” This statement was made in reference to a 2019 police work study that probed a recommendation to induce the disbandment of the Task Team.

“There is just no way you are going to be successful on the ground because you are just piling people into the same task team. As soon as the mission is accomplished by a task team, officers are expected to return to the respective units and departments.”

Senzo Mchunu said that following his appointment in June 2024, he took extensive steps to understand the structure of the police force and was thoroughly briefed by his predecessor, former Minister of Police Bheki Cele, along with senior officials from the South African Police Service. This statement was contradictory to the version of all events that had taken place as explained and presented by General Mkhwanazi and Commissioner Masemola, who informed the Madlanga Commission, chaired by Mbuyiseli Madlanga, that Mchunu had indeed not been briefed on the Task Team.

Senzo Mchunu’s testimony emerged a few hours after news broke out that Cyril Ramaphosa had the Inspector General of National Intelligence, Imitiaz Fazel, suspended from his position on Thursday, 16th October 2025. This is the latest development in the turmoil affecting South Africa’s law enforcement and intelligence structures. Fazel was suspended due to pending outcomes of a running investigation by the Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence into existing complaints of his alleged distasteful conduct.

The Committee invoked section 7(4) of the Intelligence Service Act, which enables the President to suspend the Inspector General whilst an inquiry is in motion. This suspension is said to have exposed the turmoil within the SAPS, where intelligence operations, political directives, and personal rivalries increasingly overlap.

Meanwhile, Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya, publicly accused Mkhwanazi and Crime Intelligence Head, Dumisani Khumalo, at the Parliamentary Inquiry, of weaponizing intelligence resources to have an “upper hand in” control within the SAPS. Sibiya claimed that both Mkhwanazi and Khumalo had turned the political task team into an alleged “elite” unit that operated outside traditional accountability structures, consuming close to half a million a year whilst limiting its operations only to KwaZulu-Natal.

Sibiya stated, “We cannot really be fighting so hard to keep and maintain a very expensive political task team that is meant to actually take care of a very small pool of excellence within KZN. The whole country is not really taken care of.”

Mkhwanazi transparently criticized Mchunu’s decision to disband the team, accusing Sibiya of honoring Senzo Mchunu’s command by removing 121 dockets from the Task Team, which were returned after Mkhwanazi’s media briefing in July 2025 and the appointment of Firoz Cachalia as acting police minister. Fazel’s suspension leaves a noticeable gap in the oversight body created to prevent and combat such abuses and mismanagement. The inspector general’s office ensured that the State Security Agency, Defence Intelligence, and Crime Intelligence acted within constitutional limits. Without its role, institutional accountability could be further eroded and jeopardized.

In conclusion, General Mkhwanazi has placed himself as a whistle-blower with the purpose of exposing interference from senior officers and politicians. He maintains that Mchunu and Sibiya have undermined the Task Team’s work to protect a Gauteng drug cartel, namely, the “Big Five.” This is a claim that both individuals deny. Sibiya states that “General Mkhwanazi is playing the country, and he is playing a mind game with the country. He knows how to play with words in such a way that the country gets moved.” Sibiya has blatantly accused Mkhwanazi of using propaganda to win over the country’s opinion.