Mchunu’s private security firearms plans may misfire if Mkhwanazi scandal grows

Scrape beneath the surface of the several accusations recently levelled against Senzo Mchunu, the embattled police minister, and key themes, including firearms and private security, emerge.

This combination of themes has caused controversy before in South Africa.

There are long-running suspicions that some people, including gangsters, manipulate private security – that they exploit businesses to gain access to firearms and use certain companies as fronts.

Rogue private security can lead to protection rackets, with “services” forced on businesses, and money demanded in return. In other words, extortion.

An example of security turned inside out is what happened in Nyanga, Cape Town, in January.

A taxi guard was killed and seven others were wounded in a shooting when two rival security companies, believed to be based in KwaZulu-Natal, allegedly took each other on.

Rifles and handguns were confiscated after that incident.

This is roughly where Mchunu fits in.

Daily Maverick previously reported that on 28 March 2025, he signed off on a call for public comment on proposed private security amendments that, if enacted, would see the tighter regulation of firearms in the industry.

A contentious part of those proposals said that a business could issue a firearm to a security officer, but that “does not include security officers possessing firearms” in public places, including shopping malls and restaurants.

Read more: Alarm and applause after Police Minister Mchunu takes aim at private security guns

The Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority was pushing for more stringent firearm controls in the sector.

But while some were of the view that the proposed amendments were necessary to crack down on an industry with rogue elements running through it, most responses were negative and alarming.

It is not yet clear if the proposals have since been fine-tuned and how, or when, they may be implemented.

In the meantime, Mchunu has come under fire.

Mkhwanazi vs Mchunu

During a press conference on 6 July 2025, KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made astounding accusations.

Several were against Mchunu and other individuals.

Mkhwanazi alleged that a drug cartel based in Gauteng was controlling a high-level criminal syndicate that extends into the South African Police Service, the Police Ministry, Parliament, official prison structures, the judiciary and other law-enforcement authorities.

He had also alleged that at the end of last year, Mchunu issued a directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team to shield politically connected members of a criminal syndicate from prosecution.

Mkhwanazi’s other claims included that Mchunu was in cahoots with, among others, attempted murder case accused Vusi “Cat” Matlala. Mchunu denied the accusations.

But a week after the allegations surfaced, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Mchunu had been placed on leave and a Commission of Inquiry was being set up to investigate Mkhwanazi’s assertions. This process is set to take at least six months.

Read more: Ramaphosa’s cop ‘corruption’ response — Mchunu on leave and judicial inquiry into spies and law enforcers

Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe is now acting police minister until August, when Firoz Cachalia is set to take over.

Several other developments have resulted from Mkhwanazi’s allegations. This includes Deputy National Commissioner of Crime Detection Shadrack Sibiya, who has denied wrongdoing in the saga, being placed on leave.

Furthering or fighting crime

Back to the accusations, which are yet to be tested, against Mchunu.

Mkhwanazi had alleged that Matlala was “financially supporting” Mchunu’s “political endeavours”.

Last year, Matlala was awarded a R360-million police contract that has since been terminated.

He also has links to private security via the company CAT VIP Protection, which is headquartered in Pretoria. (A company search showed it was registered in KwaZulu-Natal and was in the process of final deregistration.)

The company’s Instagram account includes photographs of apparent employees with firearms.

 

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A post shared by cat vip protectio (@cat_vip_protection)

While CAT VIP does not appear to be registered in Matlala’s name, the company’s website describes him as its founder and says he has more than three decades of law enforcement experience.

“His unique insights and consulting capabilities are highly regarded by many organisations and governments around the world in providing protection solutions that meet their requirements,” the website says. 

“He is an expert advisor in the law enforcement industry in South Africa, and forms a crucial part in contributing to the [sic] fighting crime in the country.”

Certain police officers, however, are of the view that Matlala is doing the opposite and contributing to crime in the country.

Matlala was arrested in May this year and is in custody for an attempted murder relating to the wounding of actress Tebogo Thobejane in a Sandton shooting in October 2023.

This means a private security company founder is facing criminal accusations relating to a shooting – an attempted killing.

AK-47 and pistol

And there are other curious issues relating to CAT VIP Protection.

Daily Maverick recently reported that, according to Mkhwanazi, an AK-47 and pistol were linked to the April 2024 killing in Vereeniging of engineer Armand Swart, who was shot after the company he worked for unearthed corruption related to Transnet and tenders.

Mkhwanazi said ballistic evidence showed the firearms had also been used in other cases involving high-profile artists being targeted in Gauteng.

Read more: Mkhwanazi’s smoking guns: How two firearms could expose SA’s colluding cops, a drug cartel and high-profile murders

This seemed to tie into the November 2022 fatal shootings in Gauteng of Oupa John Sefoka, better known as DJ Sumbody, and his apparent bodyguard, who went by the name of Wolter Sbusiso.

Daily Maverick recently reported that Sbusiso, based on social media photographs, appeared to have worked for the Matlala-founded CAT VIP company.

Sefoka was associated with alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, who is based in Cape Town.

In previous years, there were violent battles to dominate private security focused on nightclubs in the city.

It is in this arena that suspicions have for long surfaced that gangsters and crime suspects, as well as rogue state agents and intelligence operatives, were using certain private security companies as fronts.

Weakened stance

These are now some of the worrying issues hovering close to South Africa’s developing policing scandal – and to Mchunu, in spite of his denials.

Mkhwanazi’s accusations, and issues directly and indirectly linked to them, bring into question just how deeply certain law-enforcing state entities have been corrupted.

We know they have rotten elements, but not their full extent.

Aside from the services and authorities Mkhwanazi named as being part of a criminal syndicate, further questions extend to what watchdogs such as the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) have been up to.

Ipid should be cracking down on the kind of corruption Mkhwanazi has alleged.

Read more: ‘Private militias’ warning after Cape Town taxi shootout

In terms of private security specifically, Mkhwanazi’s accusations are that Mchunu was in cahoots with Matlala, the founder of a company in that sector and a suspect accused of crime relating to a firearm or firearms.

Mchunu’s signature is on the official document from earlier this year, calling for public comment on the proposed – and controversial – private security amendments relating to firearm regulation in the industry.

The accusations he now faces, whether factual or not, weaken his authority and leave unsettling questions about the very arena the state, via the proposed regulations, wants more control over – guns in private security. DM