Overview

• Maj-Gen Petronella van Rooyen testified that the police minister’s December 2024 instruction to close the task team fell outside his legal mandate and encroached on SAPS operations.
• Van Rooyen said deputy national commissioners report to the national commissioner and must refuse manifestly illegal orders, noting Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya should not have acted on the minister’s directive.
• National commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola testified that Sibiya, since suspended after an internal finding of Police Act violations, sought to seize the Cold Case Unit and remove Crime Intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo from the task team.
• Masemola and KZN commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said disbanding the team and moving case files — including a tranche of 121 dockets — derailed an intelligence-driven probe into a Gauteng cartel linked to businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
• Van Rooyen also told the commission that Parliament’s police committee failed to act on Mkhwanazi’s March briefing on alleged interference and corruption, as public hearings continue.