Illustrative image | Fadiel Adams. (Photo: Gallo Images / Ziyaad Douglas) | Provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday. (Photo: Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius) | The DA’s Dianne Kohler Barnard. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach) 
South Africa’s directorate geared towards cracking down on corruption has a structure in it that is doing the exact opposite.
This is according to KwaZulu-Natal’s police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who says that sources in the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) relayed this information to him.
Mkhwanazi was testifying on Thursday, 18 September 2025, on the second day of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ED_573762.jpg "The commission’s chair, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, and advocate Sandile Khumalo at the Madlanga Commission Of Inquiry on Day 2 at Brigitte Mabandla Judicial College on September 18, 2025 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Alet Pretorius)")
Strong allegations that emerged from his testimony include that there were attempts – from various angles and in different ways – to thwart investigations into a criminal syndicate – a cartel – which involves corrupt state officials.
Mkhwanazi alleged that this was why individuals in South Africa’s historically beleaguered Crime Intelligence division were targeted – to subvert the unit.
He also claimed attempted murder accused Vusi “Cat” Matlala was “enjoying too much privilege from law enforcement” – to the point that individuals in the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department fitted his vehicles with blue emergency lights, even though these are strictly meant for law enforcement.
President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the creation of the Madlanga Commission after Mkhwanazi made a series of startling accusations in a press conference on 6 July, including that Matlala was financially supporting the political endeavours of Senzo Mchunu, the police minister who was placed on leave over the accusations.
‘Used as a weapon’
One of his most startling claims on Thursday involves Idac which, having been formalised last year, falls under the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
According to the NPA, Idac is a “permanent prosecution-led unit” that has “criminal investigative powers to pursue the most complex forms of corruption and associated crimes, in line with its mandate”.
“The NPA Amendment Act of 2024 established the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) as a permanent entity with enhanced police powers and criminal investigation capabilities.”
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Mkhwanazi referred to information he said he received from sources in Idac.
He alleged: “There is activities that are happening in the Idac that are not in line with what the purpose of the formation of the entity is, and that there are two structures in Idac.
“There’s a good structure that is dealing with the Zondo Commission [that previously investigated State Capture] and there’s another structure that is malicious that is used as a weapon to further disrupt the criminal justice operations.”
Mkhwanazi also connected different sets of allegations and showed how these eventually linked to the Idac claims.
No PKTT clarity
On Thursday, Mkhwanazi provided more details on the issue he started testifying about the day before – the disbandment of KwaZulu-Natal’s Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).
He testified on Wednesday that he had been influenced to disband the team at the end of last year. This would have been to benefit organised crime syndicate suspects under the impression that the PKTT was investigating them.
Mkhwanazi detailed on Thursday how several senior state officials were unsure what was happening after Mchunu “disestablished” the PKTT.
He read a letter, dated 10 June 2025, from KwaZulu-Natal’s director of public prosecutions, advocate Elaine Harrison, in which she said: “There has been no formal communication to the office of the national Director of Public Prosecutions as well as my office on this issue.
“It is of concern that this office remains unsure of what the correction position is regarding this team.”
Harrison had also pointed out there would be local government elections next year. “We are aware that all elections are preceded by violent political activity,” she wrote.
This included murders and attempted murders within, as well as between, political parties.
Mkhwanazi then turned his attention to Parliament.
The MPs and the intel
He referred to Dianne Kohler Barnard of the DA, describing her as “a veteran in Parliament”. He said she appeared to have obtained information that should not have been disseminated. This was related to the Crime Intelligence unit.
Mkhwanazi therefore accused Kohler Barnard of breaking the law and “fuelling these malicious attacks” involving Crime Intelligence.
She hit back at his testimony on Thursday: “For it to be suggested by General Mkhwanazi that I was somehow part of a criminal syndicate, is absurd.”
Mkhwanazi said he also had concerns about another MP, Fadiel Adams, who heads the National Coloured Congress and is on Parliament’s police committee.
Mkhwanazi spent far longer talking about Adams, explaining that his concerns included Adams’s “unauthorised access to intelligence information and his reckless use thereof” and his apparent influence over police “at the highest echelon”.
According to Mkhwanazi, on 29 October last year, Adams went to the Cape Town Central Police Station and lodged three criminal cases. Mkhwanazi, though, believed Adams’s complaints were so flimsy that they did not even warrant registering anything with the police.
(At some point during Thursday’s proceedings, the commission’s chair, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, remarked that he was surprised how much effort and focus was put into dealing with Adams’s “non-complaint”.)
‘Armed force for Cele’
In any event, Adams’s complaints were about vetting processes in the Crime Intelligence unit, which suggested that he had access to records that should not have been made available to him.
Mkhwanazi also testified that Adams claimed there was abuse of the secret fund account at Crime Intelligence and that this went towards buying vehicles for the PKTT.
According to Mkhwanazi’s testimony, the complaint Adams made about the PKTT went further – Adams had alleged it was an “armed force” for former police minister Bheki Cele.
Mkhwanazi said that two days after Adams lodged these complaints with police in Cape Town, he did the same at the Orlando police station in Johannesburg on 31 November last year.
The saga did not end there.
Mkhwanazi testified that on 1 November last year, Adams sent an email to Mchunu along the lines that there were “efforts to undermine” those cases.
Arrests and questions
Mchunu had subsequently emailed national police Commissioner Fannie Masemola and asked for a response to Adams’s concerns.
This saga was referred to the police’s Inspectorate, which is led by Lieutenant General Peter Jacobs, who was once head of the country’s Crime Intelligence unit.
According to Mkhwanazi, Adams had not been available to meet an Inspectorate official.
This is roughly where things loop back to Idac.
Mkhwanazi testified that on 11 November last year, Mchunu’s chief of staff allegedly became involved in this matter and sent a letter to Idac about the complaints Adams had lodged at the Cape Town and Orlando police stations that involved Crime Intelligence vetting processes.
The head of Crime Intelligence at the time was Dumisani Khumalo, who had also been involved in overseeing the PKTT.
Fast-forward a few months.
Daily Maverick reported that in March this year the SAPS warned Parliament that Khumalo was being targeted for cleaning up the Crime Intelligence arena.
Parliament heard that this involved false accusations, including that he was appointing people aligned with him.
Just a few months after that, in June, Khumalo was arrested along with six colleagues, in connection with an allegedly irregular appointment.
They denied the accusations against them. Idac carried out the arrests.
Mkhwanazi effectively said on Thursday that Khumalo – and Crime Intelligence – was targeted as one of the ways to frustrate investigations into the criminal cartel.
Adams, in an interview with eNCA on Thursday, reacted to Mkhwanazi’s testimony: “I don’t know why General Mkhwanazi is so fixated on me. Is he fixated because I have been the reason his buddy General Khumalo is now before the court for alleged fraud and corruption? I don’t understand.”
The commission of inquiry is expected to resume on Friday. DM