Illustrative image: Police dockets in the office of the head of detectives. (Photo: Gallo Images / City Press / Sipho Maluka) | Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu) | National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu) 
Tension between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola over political murder dockets seems to have cleared up.
This emerged on Tuesday, 2 September 2025 when Masemola and Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia issued a joint statement to say they were working together and had dealt with the matter.
Days before that, Cachalia and Ramaphosa had admonished Masemola over the 121 dockets from KwaZulu-Natal’s political killings task team.
They reacted after Masemola told journalists that the dockets – part of an unprecedented law enforcement scandal and which ended up at the police head office – would be returned to KwaZulu-Natal for investigation.
Read more: ‘Jumping the gun on political murder dockets’ — Ramaphosa, Cachalia rebuke Masemola
Ramaphosa and Cachalia were taken aback because they felt that a commission of inquiry – the Madlanga Commission – should first investigate issues, including the dockets.
Cachalia had said: “It is a concern… that steps are being taken… before the commission has had a chance to investigate the issues.”
Ramaphosa’s view, conveyed via his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, included that it was “imprudent for the leadership of SAPS to start tinkering with areas… which are now a subject of inquiry by the Madlanga Commission”.
This saga resulted in Cachalia and Masemola meeting on Monday and issuing the joint statement the next day.
Collegiality, case dockets and copies
“The purpose was to clarify and affirm their respective roles, with the Minister having executive authority and the National Commissioner having operational authority given their shared objectives of building public trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS),” a section of it said.
“A key outcome was that Minister Cachalia and General Masemola agreed to the necessity of maintaining a professional, collegial and respectful relationship.”
Joint media statement by the Minister of Police and the National Commissioner of @SAPoliceService pic.twitter.com/r7Kx0Rps5A
— Professor Firoz Cachalia (@Prof_Cachalia) September 2, 2025
Their statement referenced the 121 dockets.
“The [KwaZulu-Natal] political killings task team dockets will be submitted to the commission in the format that they require,” it said.
“This is to ensure the integrity of the dockets and enable the commission to thoroughly investigate all the matters related to its terms of reference.”
It turns out that copies of the dockets may be sent to the commission.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told eNCA on Tuesday that “the original dockets” were back with KwaZulu-Natal’s political killings task team and a copy of each had been made in case the Madlanga Commission needed them.
She said the 121 dockets related to 107 murder cases that involved, among others, traditional leaders and councillors. Other dockets related to attempted killings, conspiracy to commit murder and the pointing of firearms.
The 121 dockets at the centre of explosive allegations of police corruption will remain with the KZN political killings task team. But copies have been made to be used by the Madlanga Commission. #NewsNight #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/0J2OE52uaM
— eNCA (@eNCA) September 2, 2025
Mathe was not able respond to a Daily Maverick request for clarity on an aspect of this by the time of publication on Wednesday.
But Cachalia’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, explained: “The dockets have been returned to the task team. The SAPS will cooperate with the commission should there be a request for the dockets – in whatever format they are requested.”
If the original 121 dockets are back in KwaZulu-Natal, and copies have indeed been made for the Madlanga Commission, this suggests that Masemola was not necessarily “imprudent… to start tinkering” with the dockets, as Ramaphosa had said.
It also suggests that Ramaphosa and Cachalia could have simply requested that copies be made for the commission.
The sensitivities attached to this saga, though, might explain why Ramaphosa and Cachalia spoke out last week against Masemola for moving ahead on the dockets, which they thought was premature.
Cop controversies
The 121 dockets are part of South Africa’s ongoing and much broader policing scandal which started erupting in July 2025.
This was when KwaZulu-Natal’s commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, made a series of allegations during a press conference. These include that at the end of 2024, the police minister at the time, Senzo Mchunu, sent out a directive to disband the political killings task team in KZN.
Mkhwanazi also alleged that in March 2025 the deputy national commissioner of crime detection, Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya, directed that “121 case dockets under investigation” be removed from the team.
According to Mkhwanazi, this was effectively done to shield politically connected crime suspects.
Mchunu and Sibiya denied any wrongdoing, but both were placed on leave.
Sibiya is challenging this through legal processes.
Ramaphosa, meanwhile, ordered that a commission be created to investigate Mkhwanazi’s allegations, including those concerning the 121 KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team dockets.
This is how the Madlanga Commission came about.
Headed to KZN
On Friday, 29 August, Masemola, on the sidelines of a policing event, responded to journalists’ questions about what had happened to the 121 dockets: “They were traced at the [police] headquarters, and I’ve given [the] directive they return to the province, KwaZulu-Natal, for investigation.”
He said detectives were making copies of the dockets and they were being checked to ensure they had not been tampered with.
Masemola added: “From there, they’ll be sent back to the provincial commissioner [presumably Mkhwanazi], and he will allocate them back to the political killings task team and investigations will continue.”
National Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola says vetting processes will ensure that dockets being returned to the KZN Political Killings Task Team are accounted for. #Today #DStv403 #QuestionThinkAct pic.twitter.com/5NumcYs1d1
— eNCA (@eNCA) August 28, 2025
This has been done – the 121 dockets are back with the task team.
But Masemola’s comments about this plan resulted in Ramaphosa and Cachalia saying that he (Masemola) was acting prematurely and that the Madlanga Commission should deal with the dockets first.
When Ramaphosa and Cachalia’s stance on Masemola surfaced there were some informal concerns that if the 121 dockets headed straight to the Madlanga Commission it would result in delays to critical police investigations.
The concerns included that this would affect victims and suspects, who would have more time to destroy evidence, for example.
This might have played a role in seeing to it that the 121 dockets headed back to KwaZulu-Natal for investigation.
Cachalia and Masemola’s statement about the dockets, issued on Tuesday, touched on issues including time in terms of the Madlanga Commission.
Delayed
“Where there are matters in these dockets requiring urgent further criminal investigations or prosecution, the SAPS will advise the commission accordingly,” it read.
“The SAPS will also act with speed where the commission refers new matters to it for urgent investigation in line with its terms of reference.”
Read more: Minister Kubayi suspends top justice department officials over Madlanga Commission delays
Meanwhile, the Madlanga Commission has already been postponed before its first sitting.
It was meant to start on Monday, 1 September, but shortly before that it emerged it would not be able to do so.
Daily Maverick reported that it was postponed because of snags in getting infrastructure sorted out.
This delay resulted in two Justice Department officials being suspended pending an investigation and disciplinary process.
It was not immediately clear when the commission would officially start.
Jeremy Michaels, the commission’s spokesperson, told Newzroom Afrika an announcement in this regard was expected over the next few weeks. DM