‘Zuma surprised at Khan and company’s hush money-style meeting with me’ — MK party’s Shongwe

“What is wrong, bro? What did I do to you? You are suffocating me,” – the alleged words of Crime Intelligence officer Feroz Khan, who is now in hospital in a critical condition from a gunshot to the abdomen.

The words were uttered in a video call months ago, allegedly to the MK party’s Vusi Shongwe, who testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, 30 June 2026.

“While saying this, he placed his hand on his neck, and his eyes appeared red, as if he had been crying,” Shongwe told the commission.

This video call allegedly took place on 8 March 2026 after Shongwe had referred to Khan in Parliament.

Khan and the parallel hearings

When Shongwe detailed these allegations to the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday, Khan remained in hospital after a shooting that had occurred on Sunday evening.

Khan was meant to have testified before the commission on Wednesday, but given the shooting and the extent of his injuries, it is unlikely that he will attend. His legal team may instead submit an affidavit, or sections of one, on his behalf.

The Madlanga Commission and the ad hoc committee

Both the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and Parliament’s ad hoc committee were set up last year after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi went public with a series of striking accusations, including that a drug cartel had infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice sector, politics and private security. Both these hearings have been investigating his accusations. These parallel processes have included calling witnesses to testify. While the ad hoc committee has wrapped up its witness hearings, the Madlanga Commission continues.

A parliamentary ad hoc committee, now in its final phase, conducted parallel hearings to the Madlanga Commission.

As a member of Parliament, Shongwe was part of the ad hoc committee – during those proceedings, as with the Madlanga Commission, Khan was referred to several times.

The ad hoc committee heard testimony from several witnesses, but Khan was not among those called to testify.

‘Cocaine, possible cover-up, cigarettes’

Shongwe found this concerning, telling the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday: “I could not understand the reluctance to call him before the committee, particularly given the weight and seriousness of the allegations that had been formally tabled against him.”

According to Shongwe, based on those allegations, he wanted to know more.

Areas that interested Shongwe included:

• A controversial R286-million cocaine interception in 2021 in Aeroton, Johannesburg. Khan had been present at the scene and later faced disciplinary proceedings over his actions there, but was cleared. The Madlanga Commission has focused extensively on this interception, with witness Tumelo Nku this week admitting that the interception was initially orchestrated on behalf of a drug trafficker known as Eby.
• “The alleged cover-up relating to the murder of a make-up artist.” This is linked to Maja Janeska, who was shot in the head in 2022 in a Gauteng home. She had been in a relationship with a figure in the cigarette industry. News24 reported that police were told she took her own life, while a relative said she had feared some of those around her. A photograph on her Instagram account suggests she knew Khan.
• “The alleged cover-up of matters pertaining to cigarette smuggling cases.” Daily Maverick has reported that the Madlanga Commission was keen to find out about the apparent ties between Khan and tobacco executive Mohamed “Mo” Sayed.

During Tuesday’s Madlanga Commission proceedings, Shongwe said he had received a call from MK party leader and former South African (and ANC) president Jacob Zuma’s personal assistant, Londiwe Xulu, to say Zuma wanted to meet him.

This resulted in Shongwe heading to Durban, where he was told two people had requested to see him and Zuma.

The meeting took place at a private security company’s premises. It turned out that the meeting was with tobacco businessman Yusuf Kajee and a man named Imran, whose surname Shongwe did not know. (Xulu was also present; Zuma was not.)

Kajee once had issues with the South African Revenue Service, and in 2022, the Sowetan reported that he visited Zuma at his Nkandla home. (A photograph attached to the Sowetan article showed another tobacco industry figure with Kajee – Imraan Vally.)

Zuma’s son Edward had also been present.

‘We can look after you’

In Tuesday’s proceedings, Shongwe said he was not sure what the meeting he attended was about, but thought it might be that Kajee and Imran somehow wanted to assist “the organisation”, presumably the MK Party.

“However, in the course of our conversation, Yusuf stated that someone wished to speak to me, without explaining further, and insisted on calling this person to speak to me telephonically,” Shongwe said.

It turned out the “someone” was Khan.

“I refused and informed them that I did not wish to take the call,” Shongwe said.

However, Shongwe said, “During this interaction, Yusuf moved his chair closer to mine and proceeded to call this person, as the phone was already ringing. The call was answered, and it was General Khan on a video call.”

It was during the call that Khan allegedly asked Shongwe what he had done to him, and said that Shongwe was “suffocating” him.

“I replied that I was not doing anything to him, that I was merely referencing his name, and that he was not my focus,” Shongwe told the Madlanga Commission.

“He then said, ‘What do you want? We can look after you. Come meet me at my place in Sandton next week, Friday, if you are available.’ ”

The follow-up meeting did not happen.

‘R10m cash and chocolates’

During Tuesday’s proceedings, Shongwe said that after Khan addressed him on the video call, Kajee turned his phone to face himself, asked Khan where the proposed meeting with Shongwe would happen, and ended the call.

Shongwe testified that Kajee told him: “Stop this, you are our brother, and we can really take care of you. There is a security tender at Checkers worth R2-million every month, and we can give it to you.”

According to Shongwe, he replied that he did not operate like that.

“[Kajee] insisted that he could arrange ‘10 bar’ (R10-million) for me in cash, and I said it was fine, that we would talk [during the proposed follow-up meeting that did not happen],” Shongwe said.

Feroz Khan and Crime Intelligence

Feroz Khan is attached to the South African Police Service’s tumultuous Crime Intelligence unit, which has been consistently dogged by allegations of secret fund looting and corruption. KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who initially made the drug cartel infiltration accusations that gave rise to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, does not appear to see eye-to-eye with Khan. In the broader drug cartel infiltration scandal, it has become clear that there is distrust among Crime Intelligence officers, as well as between policing units.

He said Kajee had put it to him that he was not after Khan, but that Shongwe was actually after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Mkhwanazi, based on previous statements, does not see eye to eye with Khan.

Shongwe said Kajee had told him that he could give the MK party MP “information” on Mkhwanazi.

When the other man, Imran, had said goodbye to Shongwe, he allegedly said: “I don’t have anything now, but I will give you your chocolates on Friday when we meet.”

This may have been a reference to information or money.

‘Zuma was surprised’

Shongwe had been on alert during this meeting, telling the Madlanga Commission he had seen men around the car he and Xulu had travelled in, while the meeting was in progress.

According to Shongwe, he had also left his cellphone in the vehicle because he was worried it would be hacked.

He said: “The following day, I met with President Zuma and [his son] Mr Duduzane Zuma and recounted to them what had transpired in the meeting.

“President Zuma expressed surprise that this was the reason the meeting had been requested, as this had not been disclosed to him up front; he had only been informed that they wished to praise our work on the ad hoc committee, as many individuals do.”

Shongwe said Zuma did not know Khan and had met him only once before.

After Shongwe testified yesterday, another witness, under the pseudonym Witness L, testified before the Madlanga Commission in-camera for security reasons. DM

What’s next?

The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry will continue hearing witness testimony. It aims to complete a final report to President Cyril Ramaphosa on the evidence that emerges through its proceedings by 31 August 2026.