Mkhwanazi Reveals How Seized Dockets Halted Key Arrests In KZN

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has revealed how the seizure of 121 dockets from the province’s political killings task team disrupted critical investigations and delayed arrests.

Testifying before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria, Mkhwanazi explained that despite a court order to arrest suspects, some arrests were never carried out because the dockets had been removed from the task team.

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“Now, for the period when these dockets were handed over to the head office, there were five of those dockets that had instruction to arrest suspects, because the instruction [to hand over dockets] came before the execution of those arrests,” he said.

“Those dockets sat amongst the total dockets in the head office and those arrests were not effected. What is more troubling about this is that the head office detective services had conducted some inspection on these dockets as I indicated yesterday.”

Political Interference Allegations Surface

Mkhwanazi confirmed that the seized dockets were part of sensitive investigations into corruption and political interference within law enforcement agencies.

The Commission is probing his allegations that senior police officials—including Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, currently on special leave—interfered in policing operations and maintained ties with criminal syndicates.

Earlier, Mkhwanazi revealed that the political killings task team continued its work despite a written instruction from Mchunu to disband it.

Why the Task Team Kept Operating

Explaining why the unit continued operating, Mkhwanazi told the inquiry:

“Commissioner, as I said yesterday, the instruction was not officially given to me. It would’ve been sent to the national commissioner. The national commissioner did not communicate anything with me. But what I know of is that the team continued to work; it never stopped.”

He added that the number of officers assigned to the task team was reduced, possibly due to budget constraints:

“However, the number of members that were deployed to the team was reduced. The reason could be perhaps the reduction of the total number of persons deployed may have been influenced by the budget.”

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