Madlanga Commission Questions Who Drafted Letter To Disband Political Killings Task Team

The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry opened with explosive testimony that raised doubts about the origins of the letter instructing the disbandment of the political killings task team.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi testified at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria, suggesting that Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu may not have been solely behind the directive.

The contested letter, sent to National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola in December by Mchunu, instructed that the task team be dissolved. According to Mkhwanazi, the move appeared unusual and lacked consultation.

Mkhwanazi Challenges Minister Mchunu’s Role

Mkhwanazi told the inquiry that during a discussion with Mchunu’s chief of staff, Cedrick Nkabinde, it emerged that someone else may have been advising the minister.

He noted that while Mchunu was in KwaZulu-Natal at the time, Nkabinde seemed to be relaying input from another party in Gauteng on the contents of the letter, which was finalized on 31 December.

“The correspondence would have gone to the chief of staff, who then directs it to the minister, and perhaps the minister will not be happy with some of the content and the chief of staff will send it to the drafters—that’s why the back and forth,” Mkhwanazi explained.

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Mkhwanazi repeatedly described the decision as both “odd” and “strange,” particularly because it bypassed consultations with senior police leadership, including himself and the national commissioner.

He also pointed out that the directive came only months after the task team had been asked to assist in a counterintelligence investigation in Gauteng. That investigation, he said, revealed troubling details of how certain members of the criminal justice system were shielding organised criminal syndicates.

The inquiry is expected to continue scrutinising the political and operational motives behind the task team’s sudden disbandment.

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