Overview

• Maj-Gen Petronella van Rooyen told the Madlanga Commission that the minister’s December 2024 directive to close the task team fell outside his powers under section 206.
• She framed the order as an unlawful instruction that intruded on functions reserved for the national commissioner.
• National commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola previously described the directive as an encroachment and said it was delivered with unusual urgency.
• KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged the move sought to derail intelligence work touching a syndicate linked to businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala, naming associate Brown Mogotsi in testimony.
• Masemola said the team was created by an interministerial committee to coordinate investigations, intelligence and prosecutorial support on political violence, and the commission’s hearings in Pretoria are continuing under retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga.