Crime Crackdown: Mkhwanazi Tapped To Lead National Task Force Against Syndicates

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has been selected to head a new national initiative aimed at dismantling organised crime networks across South Africa.

Despite recently securing a renewed term as provincial commissioner, Mkhwanazi will now take on a dual role, balancing responsibilities in KwaZulu-Natal with his expanded national duties. He confirmed he will remain in charge of policing in the province, although his work will require him to spend significant time elsewhere.

National Police Commissioner Backs Mkhwanazi for Key Crime-Fighting Role

The appointment follows a decision by National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola, who identified Mkhwanazi as a key figure in a broader strategy to tackle organised crime.

Mkhwanazi revealed that Masemola had already briefed KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli about the arrangement during discussions around his contract renewal.

Ntuli publicly congratulated Mkhwanazi at the launch of a new provincial forensic laboratory in Durban, praising both his reappointment and his new national responsibility.

“I also want to say congratulations once more to you, not only for the contract but for being appointed to another task, to establish a national task team on specialised crime in the country,” said Ntuli.

Integrated Strategy to Target Sophisticated Crime Syndicates

Mkhwanazi explained that the new task team would bring together multiple policing units under a unified command, improving coordination and efficiency in tackling complex criminal networks.

“As the South African Police Service, we always have strategies to fight crime. The national commissioner has identified me to play a role in that strategy of fighting organised crime. He has the responsibility to brief the premier on what he intends to do and how that will impact my role in the province,” he said.

He added that the model would mirror the structure of the Political Killings Task Team, which integrates various disciplines such as detectives, intelligence, and crime-combatting units.

“What we’ve been seeing as a challenge is the coordination of the work of all these different disciplines. With the organised crime approach, we are bringing different disciplines under one command so that we can have a focused investigation,” he said.

Focus on Intelligence-Led Operations and Accountability

Mkhwanazi emphasised that the initiative would rely heavily on intelligence-driven operations to identify and dismantle syndicates, including those with international links.

“When dealing with organised crime, once we have the intelligence that identifies a specific syndicate, we bring all these disciplines under one command structure and put resources together. It helps to speed up the process,” he said.

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He also highlighted the importance of internal oversight, warning that poor supervision has previously exposed officers to corruption.

“What we’ve seen a lot is that members are left sometimes to run on their own, and that’s why they get corrupted easily – because there’s no close monitoring or supervision,” he said.

Work Already Underway as Police Target Major Crime Networks

The commissioner confirmed that groundwork for the initiative has already begun, with teams in Pretoria analysing case dockets to prioritise investigations.

“They have analysed dockets that we are going to begin with very soon, so that we can identify which ones to tackle first. Intelligence will help us with profiling – not only crime intelligence, but the entire security and defence cluster,” he said.

Mkhwanazi noted that organised crime cases are often complex and may involve links to broader structures, including municipal entities.

“It’s a big elephant. We won’t finish it at once. We have to take it bit by bit,” he said, expressing confidence that the coordinated approach would yield results.