Questions Senzo Mchunu will have to answer at Parliament’s Mkhwanazi inquiry

Sidelined Police Minister Senzo Mchunu will face his fellow MPs on Thursday, 16 October, over his involvement in the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), as well as his alleged links to organised crime networks.

Mchunu will appear before the ongoing parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating claims by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Read more: Madlanga commission 

The task team was established in 2018, after the killing of ANC member Musawenkosi Mchunu. While it was a national task team, much of its focus was on KwaZulu-Natal due to the nature of the political and inter-political party violence in the province.

The inquiries have heard that the task team was investigating more than 600 dockets, with more than 50 related to political murders. 

According to Mkhwanazi and subsequent evidence in both the Madlanga Commission and the parliamentary committee, Mchunu sent off a letter to disband the task team on 31 December 2024.

Mkhwanazi found the decision nonsensical and later claimed it was an attempt to protect powerful syndicates with connections to politicians and the top echelons of the police.

Within the committee’s terms of reference, MPs can consider “political interference within SAPS: Executive oversight versus operational interference by Minister Mchunu”, including the disbandment of the task team, as well as a moratorium on filling vacancies in the crime intelligence component at SAPS. 

Mchunu will be the first politician to testify at the parliamentary hearings, following Mkhwanazi, National Police Commissioner Fanie Masemola and suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.

Here are some of the questions he is expected to face: 

What led Mchunu to suddenly disband the political killings task team?

Much of Mkhwanazi’s testimony and the initial outcry focused on the closure of the task team. 

During his testimony at the Madlanga Commission, Mkhwanazi claimed “someone influenced the minister to do this”. 

Also at the Madlanga Commission, Masemola said Mchunu’s directive was “unexpected and perplexing”, as the police minister never expressed dissatisfaction or unhappiness about the task team. 

According to Masemola, the task team had “an unmatched success rate”. Masemola also testified that Mchunu did not raise concerns with him before the disbandment of the team, although the pair had seen each other in the days leading up to Mchunu’s directive. 

On Friday, when MPs will have the opportunity to question Mchunu after evidence leaders take him through his submission on Thursday, expect legislators to ask Mchunu directly about the circumstances that led to the disbandment of the task team. 

He’s also likely to be asked who he consulted before attempting to disband the task team. Masemola has testified that Mchunu told him President Cyril Ramaphosa supported the decision, but the police chief said he wasn’t sure that the claim was true.

Critics of the task team have questioned whether its budget was justified and whether it should have had more of a national focus. One of the more prominent critics of the task team,

style="font-weight: 400;">Professor Mary de Haas, told Newzroom Afrika she had heard “horror stories” about the PKTT, and thus wrote to Parliament and Mchunu to call for an inquiry into the team. 

Read more: Why did Senzo Mchunu order the Political Killings Task Team to be shut down? 

While the date of the disbandment letter was 31 December, according to a parliamentary report, another event occurred the previous day. 

In April 2024, Armand Swart, an engineer, was shot after entering his company’s Johannesburg premises. The shooting followed a whistleblower report from Swart’s company regarding price gouging involving a Transnet tender. 

Three suspects were arrested for the murder. Cellphones and weapons were confiscated during the arrests of the suspects. In December 2024, Katiso Molefe was arrested by the task team for the murder. 

On 30 December 2024, a ballistics expert issued a report linking the confiscated firearms used in the murder of Swart with several high-profile cases that occurred in Gauteng dating as far back as 2021.

The task team was disbanded the next day.

In his testimony at the Madlanga commission, crime intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo named Molefe as one of the members of a drug trafficking cartel called the Big Five, alleged to have infiltrated political and law enforcement circles.

Did Mchunu have the power to disband the task team?

The Madlanga commission has heard testimony that Mchunu did not have the authority to disband the task team and usurped Masemola’s powers when he did so.

Major General Petronella van Rooyen, the governance, legislation and policy head at the SAPS Legal Services Division, testified in the Madlanga Commission: “The minister unlawfully strayed into the constitutional competence of the national commissioner when he issued the letter for the disbandment of the PKTT.”

“What would have been an appropriate path is for the minister to express that he no longer considers political killings to be a priority and direct the national commissioner to consider and take steps to align it with his directive.”

She said that while the police minister’s role was on policy and legislation, the national police commissioner dealt with day-to-day operational matters.

Read more: Mchunu ‘unlawfully’ usurped Masemola’s power in political killings saga, Madlanga Commission hears

What was Mchunu’s relationship with Brown Mogotsi? 

Brown Mogotsi, an ANC-aligned businessman from North West, has become a well-known name in the ongoing parliamentary committee and at the Madlanga Commission. 

At the committee, Sibiya said he had a phone conversation with Motgotsi and then met him during a work trip in Cape Town early in 2025, which coincided with the ANC’s birthday celebrations. Here, Mogotsi forgot to pay for his breakfast. 

Mogotsi was also a prominent lobbyist during Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC presidential campaign at the party’s elective conference in 2017. 

As Daily Maverick reported, Mkhwanazi accused Mogotsi of acting as an intermediary between Mchunu and alleged criminal Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, who is facing accusations of attempted murder and money laundering.

Mchunu will probably be asked how deep a possible relationship between him and Motgotsi ran, and whether he knew Matlala. Alongside Molefe, Matlala was also named as a member of the Big Five. 

Read more: Senzo Mchunu crafted a clean image — KZN’s top cop has blown it up

As Daily Maverick reported from the Madlanga Commission, Mogotsi was hell-bent on presenting himself to Matlala as someone who had access to the country’s police minister.

Mchunu previously told Parliament he was not associated with Mogotsi, before later claiming that Mogotsi was “just a comrade”. Mchunu has called Mkhwanazi’s allegations baseless.

Evidence has been presented showing WhatsApp conversations that showed Mogotsi sending screenshots of interactions with someone saved as “Senzo Mchunu”. There are also WhatsApp calls listed between Mchunu and Mogotsi, in the week before the task team disbandment announcement.

MPs will probably zoom in on this – the alleged links between Mchunu and someone who faces attempted murder charges and money laundering charges. Matlala won a R360-million SAPS health services tender before Mchunu was appointed minister, which was later terminated under his watch.

One to watch: Can Mchunu save his political career?

Before Mkhwanazi’s July allegations, Mchunu had been seen as a credible contender for ANC presidency in 2027. These allegations have definitely put his presidential ambitions on hold, but allegations alone don’t prevent an ANC member from vying for leadership. 

Mchunu remains an MP, and while aiming to potentially return to his position as minister (and stay out of jail), he may also seek to use the opportunity for political mileage.

Mchunu’s party, the ANC, also finds itself in a tricky position. It’ll probably want to show it is holding Mchunu accountable, while avoiding standing as “accused number one” in the matter. DM