Overview

• Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi began two days of testimony in Pretoria, alleging unlawful political interference in SAPS operations, including the disbandment of KwaZulu-Natal’s Political Killings Task Team.
• He told the panel a ministerial letter ordering the unit’s shutdown reached him informally, questioned the police minister’s authority over operational matters, and said attempts to secure a meeting went nowhere.
• Mkhwanazi alleged 121 dockets were removed from the task team and left in Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya’s office, which he described as an improper sidelining of active cases.
• He said he holds WhatsApp exchanges and payment records linking businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala and Oupa ‘Brown’ Mogotsi to efforts to influence investigations; a court denied Matlala bail on Wednesday.
• The inquiry will proceed in three phases and call implicated figures, including suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Sibiya, after a delayed start caused by procurement failures that triggered senior Justice Department suspensions and as a court challenge and a parliamentary probe continue.