Sunday, 06 July 2025.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) expresses grave concern following the explosive revelations made by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, during his media briefing today on the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team.

The briefing lays bare the existence of a powerful, organised criminal syndicate operating at the highest levels of the South African state. This syndicate includes senior politicians, police officers, officials in correctional services, metro police, prosecutors, members of the judiciary, and influential businesspeople, and is underpinned by the operations of a drug cartel with deep reach in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

According to Commissioner Mkhwanazi, this criminal enterprise has infiltrated the entire criminal justice system and actively works to undermine investigations, protect criminal actors, and redirect public resources to fund political campaigns through corrupt tenders and protection rackets. The Political Killings Task Team, which had been investigating high-profile murders and dismantling syndicates, became the target of this network once it began exposing links between organised crime and senior government officials.

Since its formation in 2018, the Political Killings Task Team has achieved extraordinary results in combating politically motivated violence. Over the years, the team has handled more than 600 complex cases ranging from murder and attempted murder to intimidation and conspiracy. These investigations led to the arrest and prosecution of hundreds of individuals, including 35 police officers who were themselves complicit in obstructing justice. In the process, over 150 firearms were seized, many of which have been definitively linked to political killings through ballistic analysis.

Courts have found more than 120 individuals guilty in over 100 separate cases, resulting in dozens of life sentences and cumulative prison terms amounting to over 1,800 years. These outcomes represent some of the most significant prosecutorial victories in recent SAPS history, highlighting the competence and integrity of a team that is now being dismantled not because it failed, but precisely because it succeeded in uncovering the uncomfortable truth of who really benefits from violence and lawlessness in this country.

Among the shocking details revealed that the syndicate’s key political ally is Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, who is directly implicated in the sabotage of police investigations. The Minister is alleged to have instructed the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team and the withdrawal of over 120 case dockets, a move intended to derail ongoing investigations into political assassinations, traditional leader killings, and organised crime in Gauteng.

Commissioner Mkhwanazi also confirmed that the disbandment was orchestrated through the Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Lieutenant General Sibiya, acting on direct orders from Minister Mchunu, without authority from the National or Provincial Commissioners. Furthermore, a businessman named Vusimuzi “CAT” Matlala, also an accused person and a recipient of SAPS tenders, was found to be funding the political activities of both Minister Mchunu and his associate Mr. Brown Mogotsi, including logistics for political events and gala dinners linked to the African National Congress (ANC). Further revelations show all these individuals’ involvement direct interference in procurement processes, and collusion in attempts to suspend Commissioner Mkhwanazi himself for his thoroughness in investigating.

This level of coordination, resourcing, and political protection confirms the EFF’s longheld view that the ANC-led government has become a breeding ground for a mafia state, where political office is used not to serve the people, but to shield criminals and extract public wealth. This was confirmed not so long ago by NPA’s National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi who highlighted the infiltration of the prosecuting authority which made it impossible to prosecute cases effectively. Essentially, the ANC government, through individuals like Senzo Mchunu, has transformed the state into a haven for gangsters masquerading as leaders.

The EFF salutes Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi for his bravery in standing up to this criminal cabal. His principled stance and commitment to the rule of law are commendable, especially in the face of a deliberate political smear campaign designed to undermine his leadership and isolate him within the SAPS.

In response to these revelations the EFF has demanded that the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron, convene an urgent physical Portfolio Committee sitting for a briefing from the Minister of Police regarding the matters raised by Commissioner Mkhwanazi. We hope that the Portfolio Committee Chairperson Ian Cameron, who often acts as SAPS Spokesperson during meetings and attempts to block transparency and accountability, does not force us to get intervention from the Chair of Chairs to convene this overdue meeting.

We note that Cameron previously did not see the need to convene an urgent meeting after the recent arrest of crime intelligence officials, and is steadily making the Portfolio Committee complicit in failing to execute its mandate of oversight. This is, therefore, an opportunity to widely address this explicit decline into pure lawlessness that is occurring within our policing and justice system before it is too late.

The EFF remains firm in its commitment to eradicating corruption and confronting the criminal syndicates that now occupy the corridors of state power.

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Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581