---
title: "Why did Senzo Mchunu order the Political Killings Task Team to be shut down?"
description: "Two imminent inquiries must clarify whether the minister was motivated by valid concerns or improper political motives."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "ISS TODAY OP-ED"
author: "David Bruce"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/david-bruce/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-09-08-why-did-senzo-mchunu-order-the-political-killings-task-team-to-be-shut-down/"
published: "2025-09-08T13:06:28"
updated: "2025-09-08T13:06:29"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1007
---

# Why did Senzo Mchunu order the Political Killings Task Team to be shut down?

> Two imminent inquiries must clarify whether the minister was motivated by valid concerns or improper political motives.

By David Bruce · Published 8 September 2025, 15:06 SAST · Updated 8 September 2025, 15:06 SAST

## Key points
- KwaZulu-Natal's top cop, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has thrown a spotlight on the murky waters of political corruption and police complicity, alleging that the closure of the Political Killings Task Team was less about efficiency and more about shielding the sinister networks behind a spate of political assassinations in the province.
- KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's allegations suggest deep-seated corruption among politicians and police, potentially facilitating organised crime and political killings.
- The Madlanga Commission and a Parliamentary ad hoc committee are set to investigate claims surrounding the controversial closure of the Political Killings Task Team by former police minister Senzo Mchunu.
- Mchunu's directive raises questions about political interference in police operations, with a history of KwaZulu-Natal ministers failing to limit such influence.
- Despite the task team's established reputation, its effectiveness in addressing political killings remains questionable, with a significant percentage of national political murders occurring in KwaZulu-Natal.

## Content

At his dramatic 6 July media briefing, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made several [allegations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chox7rIelyY) that raise serious questions about the role of corrupt politicians and police in facilitating organised crime in South Africa.

The allegations will soon be the subject of inquiries by the Madlanga Commission and a Parliamentary ad hoc committee. Hopefully, both will uncover considerable details about the alleged crimes highlighted.

Mkhwanazi’s briefing spotlighted a written [instruction](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1139431908210487&set=pcb.1139436874876657) by then police minister Senzo Mchunu on 31 December 2024, for the Political Killings Task Team to immediately be shut down.

He implied that the directive was intended to obstruct the investigation of criminal networks that enjoy the protection of corrupt politicians and are potentially linked to the murders of whistleblowers. Mkhwanazi appeared to assert that senior police were also complicit in preventing further investigation of these cases.

His allegations raise questions about whether Mchunu acted reasonably and justifiably in ordering the task team’s closure, or had improper motives.

It is widely [believed](https://pmg.org.za/tabled-committee-report/6270/) that Mchunu’s instruction constituted unlawful interference in South African Police Service (SAPS) operational matters. However the boundary between operations and policy is not always clear. Indeed Section 207(2) of the country’s Constitution authorises the minister to issue “directions” to the SAPS national commissioner, with no explicit limit on what these may provide.

#### **Political influence**

It is also likely that, over the years, ministerial and other political influence has [frequently](https://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-25-zuma-massages-farlam-finding-on-mthethwa/) been brought to bear on police operational decision making.

Whether Mchunu’s order to close the task team constituted inappropriate interference is likely to be debated at both inquiries. But the more important question is whether the former minister’s motives were improper. His written instruction sheds little light on the matter, stating simply that the team is “no longer required nor is it adding any value to policing in South Africa”.

In many parts of South Africa, political power is exercised corruptly to secure access to state financial resources. However, it is in KwaZulu-Natal that lethal violence is most [likely](https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/EJC142347) to be mobilised to advance corrupt political interests. Political killings in the province are facilitated by the fact that it is the primary [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14-u3GKDnWA) of *izinkabi* (hitmen) in South Africa.

**Read more:**[With contract killings on the rise, demand for bodyguards increases in KwaZulu-Natal](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-11-19-with-contract-killings-on-the-rise-demand-for-bodyguards-increases-in-kwazulu-natal/)

The contamination of state institutions by political factional rivalries extends into the police. According to the 2018 [report](https://www.kznonline.gov.za/images/Downloads/Publications/MOERANE%20COMMISSION%20OF%20INQUIRY%20REPORT.pdf) of the Moerane Commission on political murders in KwaZulu-Natal, “state institutions, particularly security institutions, are being manipulated by politicians”.

For most of the past 17 years, South Africa’s police minister has come from KwaZulu-Natal. No police minister is known to have tried to limit political influence on the police.

The task team may have been contaminated by political influence since its inception. It was established in 2016 under Nathi Nhleko, who was appointed police minister by former president Jacob Zuma in 2014. The Zuma administration engaged in overt [manipulation](https://issafrica.org/research/books-and-other-publications/state-capture-and-the-political-manipulation-of-criminal-justice-agencies) of the criminal justice system.

A second iteration of the task team was [launched](https://www.gov.za/news/speeches/minister-bheki-cele-inter-ministerial-committee-political-killings-06-sep-2023) in July 2018 under the watch of an Inter-Ministerial Committee. But in practice, Bheki Cele, an influential KwaZulu-Natal politician appointed police minister in February 2018, was the committee’s only public representative. He said the task team would incorporate assistance from the National Prosecuting Authority and other state agencies.

Though the task team has a reputation for effectiveness, its impact on political killings is unclear. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime [reported](https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Rumbi-Matamba-The-business-of-killing-Assassinations-in-SA.-April23-web.pdf) 15 political killings in KwaZulu-Natal in 2021 and 21 in 2022 — constituting at least 50% of the national total in both years. In 2023, 61% of the country’s 31 political [killings](https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Rumbi-Matamba-Chwayita-Thobela-The-politics-of-murder-Criminal-governance-and-targeted-killings-in-SA-GI-TOC-May-2024.pdf) took place in KwaZulu-Natal.

Cele provided figures for the task team’s arrests and convictions at various press [briefings](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-03-28-kzn-political-killings-161-arrests-made-so-far-as-crackdown-continues-says-cele/). To show effectiveness, investigative units tend to pursue cases that are “easy wins”, and the task team is likely to have done the same. As a result, the masterminds who recruited the *izinkabi* may have received less investigative attention.

#### **Irregular motives**

A further question is whether the task team selected cases based on political considerations or other irregular motives.

If Mchunu had reasonable justification for his instruction, this may have originated in his own knowledge of the interface between policing and politics in the province. It may also have been influenced by an October 2024 [submission](https://www.biznews.com/intelligence/political-killings-interference-policing) from KwaZulu-Natal academic and violence monitor, Mary de Haas.

She appealed to Mchunu to disband the task team, referring to allegations of political manipulation, malicious arrest and prosecution of law enforcement officials refusing to participate in improper investigations.

Before taking the top policing job in KwaZulu-Natal in 2021, Mkhwanazi served as acting provincial commissioner from May 2018 to July 2019. He is unique among senior SAPS leaders for having openly resisted political interference.

In 2012, as acting SAPS national commissioner, he resisted political pressure from then police minister Nathi Mthethwa to withdraw the suspension of Richard Mdluli and reinstate him as head of crime intelligence. Mdluli was suspected of serious criminal offences, and has subsequently been [convicted](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-12-10-former-crime-intelligence-boss-richard-mdluli-to-finally-face-trial-in-april-2025/) for some of them.

But since becoming the KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner, it is unclear whether Mkhwanazi has taken steps to ensure the task team’s impartiality and integrity. The relationship between Mchunu and Mkhwanazi appears to have been marked by acrimony and distrust; it is unclear why.

Police Minister Firoz Cachalia and SAPS National Commissioner Fannie Masemola [said](https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2025-09-02-cachalia-masemola-take-decision-on-the-political-killings-task-team-dockets/) last week that the investigation of political killings and other assassinations, including those of whistleblowers, was important for addressing corruption and organised crime. Hopefully, improved investigation of such killings will be among the outcomes of the two forthcoming inquiries.

**Read more:**[‘You do your job, I’ll do mine’ — Cachalia, Masemola make amends over political murder dockets](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-09-03-cachalia-masemola-make-amends-over-political-murder-dockets/)

In assessing Mchunu’s instruction to shut down the task team, both inquiries will need to examine whether it effectively investigated political killings or used its powers selectively and inappropriately.**DM**

*David Bruce is an Independent Researcher and Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Consultant.*

*Research for this article was funded by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.*

*First published by*[*ISS Today*](https://issafrica.org/iss-today).