‘No associate, just a comrade’ — Mchunu denies Mkhwanazi’s claim of ties to organised crime accused

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has denied any links to organised crime accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.

But he has clarified that businessman Brown Mogotsi is “just a comrade” from whom he has never “requested or received” anything.

Mchunu made this statement on Wednesday, 9 July 2025 in response to accusations that KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, made against him and certain members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) four days earlier. 

‘Just comrades’

Figures with whom Mkhwanazi alleged Mchunu was in cahoots are Matlala, who faces charges in connection with an attempted hit, and Mogotsi, who appears to be a businessman.

Neither of them seem to have publicly reacted to the accusations. Matlala was detained and a cellphone was reportedly found with him in prison.

Attempts to reach Mogotsi via an email address and social media account incorporating his name were not responded to on Wednesday. (It was not clear whether these details were indeed his.)

Mchunu initially issued a statement on the saga on the day Mkhwanazi made the accusations against him – Sunday, 6 July.

That initial statement said: “The Minister of Police will never allow his integrity, that of the Ministry or the SAPS at large, to be undermined by insinuations made without evidence or due processes, from anyone, including Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi. 

“We will be reviewing the Provincial Commissioner’s statements and consider appropriate action.”

Mchunu’s statement issued on Wednesday was more specific.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
⁰9 July 2025

STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS REGARDING THE MINISTER’S ALLEGED ASSOCIATION WITH MR MATLALA AND MR MOGOTSI

In response to the recent allegations made by Provincial Commissioner Mkhwanazi, and while respecting the President's call for…

— Senzo Mchunu (@Senzo_Mchunu_) July 9, 2025

It said: “The Minister has never met Mr. Matlala, has never spoken to him, nor has the Minister ever requested or received anything from him.

“The Minister did however initiate a review of the SAPS tender awarded to him when suspicions of possible wrongdoing surfaced. It was the same tender which has since been terminated. 

“Furthermore, whilst the Minister knows and has met Mr. Brown Mogotsi, he is just a comrade and not an associate of the Minister. The Minister has never requested or received anything from him.”

It appears that Mchunu’s statement was precisely worded because of what he previously said in Parliament – about four months ago, he told the police committee meeting that he and Mogotsi (who Mchunu did not identify by name) were not associated.

A record of this meeting reflects this.

‘Cellphone contact’ versus ‘no association’

Mkhwanazi’s press conference on Sunday involved wide-ranging and serious accusations that have exposed deep divisions in the SAPS, which has long been the scene of infighting.

One of Mkhwanazi’s key allegations was that at the end of last year, Mchunu issued a directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team, set up in 2018, to shield politically connected members of a criminal syndicate from prosecution. 

Read more: SAPS commissioner accuses police minister of derailing probe into political killings

A presentation outlining Mkhwanazi’s accusations was also issued to the media on Sunday. It referenced a Parliament police committee meeting that took place on 5 March 2025.

During that meeting, Mkhwanazi spoke about Mogotsi, saying that on 29 October 2024, an individual identifying himself as Mogotsi had contacted him, saying he was a “close associate of the minister of police”.

Mchunu, speaking during that parliamentary meeting in March, reacted to what Mkhwanazi had said, saying he had no association with “the person” – presumably Mogotsi.

This roughly mirrors his statement on Wednesday, that Mogotsi is “just a comrade and not an associate”.

In his presentation on Sunday, Mkhwanazi detailed allegations against Mchunu relating to Mogotsi and “Cat” Matlala.

It said that in Parliament, Mchunu had denied knowing Mogotsi, but the presentation said that, separately, Mchunu had “confirmed that he knows this Mr Brown Mogotsi” – this was apparently in a phone conversation during which “he confirmed that this was his comrade from North West province”. (Mchunu’s statement on Wednesday acknowledged that Brown was “a comrade”.)

According to Mkhwanazi, all of this is linked to Matlala.

Read more: Mkhwanazi’s warning — drug cartel, criminal syndicate infest SA law enforcement

The presentation on the scandal alleged: “The evidence has been found in the cellphone of the accused… Matlala which shows the communication between Mr Brown and the Minister of Police Mr Senzo Mchunu.”

Mkhwanazi also effectively claimed on Sunday that there was a high-level criminal syndicate operating in the country and that it extends into the SAPS, the Police Ministry, Parliament, official prison structures, the judiciary and other law-enforcing authorities.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, said on Wednesday, that she has asked the portfolio committees on Police, Justice and Constitutional Development, as well as the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, “to consider, on an urgent basis”, the allegations made by Mkhwanazi, and report to the National Assembly. 

Didiza dismissed calls from the DA and ActionSA to hold an urgent debate in Parliament on Mkhwanazi’s allegations.

“In relation to the debate requested by two political parties, the Speaker believes that it would not be appropriate to hold such a debate, as these allegations remain unsubstantiated at this stage,” read a statement issued by Parliament.

Crime Intelligence changes

On Wednesday, after Mchunu’s statement was issued in response to Mkhwanazi, National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola addressed the media and described the scandal as “unprecedented”.

He said the recent “revelations of divisions… have struck at the heart of the South African Police Service and indeed the nation’s trust”.

Masemola made it clear that no police officer would face persecution under his command.