Brown Mogotsi, alleged middleman between Senzo Mchunu and ‘Cat’ Matlala, to testify

The Madlanga Commission will begin its second phase on Tuesday, 18 November, starting with the testimony of alleged criminal middleman and political influencer Brown Mogotsi.

On Monday evening, Jeremy Michaels, spokesperson for the Madlanga Commission, said Mogotsi would take the witness stand on 18 and 19 November.

“Starting on 18 November 2025, Phase Two will give Persons of Interest – individuals who have been implicated in Phase One – the opportunity to place before the commission their version of and/or response to the allegations.

“Phase Two will proceed to rigorously test the evidence presented in Phase One. Individuals and representatives of institutions have been invited or, where necessary, compelled to appear before the commission. Those implicated in Phase One will now, in Phase Two, have the opportunity to offer their explanations or refute the claims made against them,” he said.

All persons of interest in Phase Two who had furnished a statement to the commission would have the opportunity to take the commission through their statement without hostile questioning, Michaels said.

Mogotsi, once a lobbyist for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 ANC leadership bid, is accused of acting as a go-between for sidelined Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and alleged crime boss Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

Read more: Reports link Cyril Ramaphosa campaign to shadowy figure at the heart of cop scandal

Matlala, according to Witness C’s testimony at the Madlanga Commission, heard on 30 October, paid R500,000 to fund Mchunu’s bid for the ANC presidency in 2027, money which appeared to go through Mogotsi. 

As Daily Maverick has reported, Mogotsi also has an unsettling history as a fervent campaigner for President Ramaphosa in North West.

Mogotsi has claimed he is an “undercover operative” who helped bring the Facebook Rapist, Thabo Bester, to book.

Meanwhile, police are investigating allegations of an apparent hit targeting Mogotsi in Vosloorus. It is alleged that he was travelling in a vehicle when it came under fire. The car was riddled with bullets, yet Mogotsi escaped unharmed.

Mchunu has insisted that Mogotsi is “just a comrade” and refuted claims that he is an “associate”. 

Read more: Mkhwanazi twisted what I said about comrade Brown Mogotsi, Mchunu tells Parliament

121 dockets ‘gathering dust’

In the final testimony during phase one of the commission, on Monday, Major-General Mary Motsepe, head of Serious and Violent Crime investigations at SAPS, told the Madlanga Commission that 121 dockets from the political killings task team (PKTT) arrived at SAPS national head office in Pretoria on 28 March 2025 for an audit that took just one day.

They were meant to be sent back to KwaZulu-Natal that same day. But by 19 May, the dockets were still locked in a strongroom, gathering dust.

The alleged irregular transfer of the dockets was one of the key concerns raised by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during his explosive 6 July briefing.

Motsepe testified that Lieutenant General Hilda Senthumule, the SAPS Divisional Commissioner for Detective and Forensic Services, contacted Mkhwanazi, who allegedly said: “He doesn’t want anything to do with the dockets.”

Mkhwanazi, however, accused Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya, suspended deputy national commissioner of crime detection, of removing the case dockets relating to political killings to effectively undermine investigations and protect suspects. Sibiya publicly denied this.

Read more: ‘You do your job, I’ll do mine’ — Cachalia, Masemola make amends over political murder dockets

The decision to disband the PKTT followed an abrupt directive issued by Mchunu on 31 December 2024.

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

Simple audit turned into a dockets probe

Motsepe told the commission that she first learnt in early March 2025 that the dockets were being sent to the national head office.

“It was after a meeting Lieutenant General Hilda Senthumule and I had with General Sibiya. When we left the meeting, Senthumule asked whether I had heard that the PKTT had been disbanded. She then said, ‘All those dockets are coming to you.’ I told her that was fine, because political killings fall within my mandate,” she said.

Motsepe said her concern grew in the first week of April 2025, when the dockets remained locked in the strong room. She then began asking questions about what would happen to them.

“By 19 May 2025, the thing that was done with dockets was the audit process, and lying in a strongroom. On this day, I was called to a meeting with Sibiya and Senthumule.”

She told the commission that Sibiya and Senthumule said Mkhwanazi did not want the dockets to be returned. 

Within two months, what was meant to be a simple audit had quietly transformed into a national investigation of the PKTT dockets. Motsepe then assembled a team of investigators.

On further interaction with Sibiya on the dockets not being returned to KZN, she said: “I instructed my team to start looking into the dockets on 19 May 2025 until 30 May 2025.

“Sibiya said that the PKTT must be seized and fall under murder and robbery units,” Motsepe said.

She said, however, that no budget had been allocated to investigate the dockets, so they continued to gather dust while at head office. 

PKTT disbandment ‘grave mistake’

Motsepe told the commission that the disbanding of the PKTT before the upcoming local government elections was a grave mistake, especially given the surge of pre-election murders that typically gripped KZN.

“We have to look at the issue of municipal elections, as we know the environment of KZN, maybe we should say, let’s look into the issue of the political environment in KZN. Just take it step by step and gradually phase out PKTT. 

“How about we package the disbandment of the PKTT after the municipal election is over. If there are no pre- and post-election casualties, then we proceed with our proper disbandment, we then have a plan, and the members of the PKTT can be absorbed into [the] murder and robbery unit.” DM