The tense war between the private security businessman Calvin Mathibeli and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner, Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, is escalating like a hurricane.
Mathibeli, the owner of Calvin and Family Security Services, a company that has lucrative contracts with Rand Water and the Department of Health among some of its clients, has revealed that there was a hit placed on his head. And he claims that members of the South African Police (SAPS) were planning to assassinate him.
He said that the hit was supposed to have been executed on December 19 last year.
December raid at his house
Sunday World reported last year December that police had gone to Mathibeli’s residences in Durban, including his offices in the same area, looking for him. Other cops had gone to his offices in Alberton, Gauteng. However, they failed to find him at all addresses.
We published the video of the police arriving at his offices last year. And on Friday, cops raided Mathibeli’s offices in Durban for the second time, after the last year’s December raid.
“On 19 December 2025, I received a call informing me that certain police officers had been instructed to kill me and that they were on their way. Ten minutes later, members of various police units including PKTT and the K9 Unit arrived at one of my family residences. They surrounded the house and pointed firearms at the property. They shouted that they were police officers and demanded that I come outside.
“My sister exited the house and truthfully informed them that I no longer resided at that address. They proceeded to my office premises, where they encountered my wife and verbally abused her. During this time, they stated that they had been monitoring my phones. An d they referenced specific information about my movements, including that I had been at the airport on a particular date, which was accurate,” said Mathibeli.
He said this in his recent statement which he published on his Facebook page on Monday. He pointed out that the cops had informed his wife that they were there to arrest him under case number 147/06/24. And he claimed they had been instructed by DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or the Hawks).
Warrant fraudulent
“My wife informed them that I was not in Durban at the time, which was also true. What is strange is, certain taxi owners already had knowledge of the police operation at my premises. And they were circulating information suggesting preparations to celebrate my death. I received calls from taxi owners while the police were still present at my office. Later that same day, officers from Alberton SAPS arrived at my Alberton office with what they claimed to be a warrant of arrest. I was not present at the time. And they were received by the Company Head of Investigations,” said Mathibeli.
Mathibeli said that upon investigation of the warrant, it was discovered that it was a J165 warrant. This implied that he had previously been arrested in 2024 and failed to appear in court.
“This is completely false, as no such arrest or court appearance ever occurred. The accused person in the referenced case was an Asian individual unknown to me. We contacted the relevant court, which confirmed that the warrant was fraudulent. We also contacted DPCI and it was confirmed they have knowledge of the case but I’m not the suspect. The suspect had already been arrested and that the warrant was indeed fraudulent.
“We formally wrote to the National Commissioner (General Fannie Masemola) demanding answers regarding this operation. To date, we have received no (response). As always that National Commissioner has been ignoring our letters for years.
R15m lawsuit against KZN SAPS
He said that him and his family have experienced continuous harassment and intimidation from certain members of SAPS in KZN since 2019.
“My businesses have been targeted repeatedly. We currently have a R15-million civil lawsuit against SAPS KZN, which was before court on 4 February 2026. Trial proceedings are set to commence soon. It is deeply concerning and disgraceful to witness SAPS being used as a weapon rather than serving its constitutional mandate to protect citizens,” he said.
Mathibeli also tapped into the incident which we reported about on Sunday. During this incident, police had raided his offices in Durban and allegedly assaulted and disarmed one of his guards. They also held the staff hostage on Friday.
“Police officers arrived at my office premises. In line with our company’s standard access control procedures, security personnel requested that they identify themselves. The officers refused to comply. Instead they forcibly broke the gate, assaulted the security officer and disarmed him. They then proceeded to the administrative offices, where they confined all female employees in the boardroom. They confiscated their mobile phones and effectively held them against their will.
Further harassment by cops
“Business operations were completely halted. When I called to enquire about what was happening, my employees were instructed by the officers to terminate the call. [They were told] that they were not allowed to speak to me. Later the officers claimed they were conducting a firearm inspection and that they were from the National Office. This is despite the fact that the Provincial Office had already conducted a more than 5-hour inspection on 7 January 2026 and found no irregularities,” he said.
He said that police were informed that him and the individual responsible for firearms control were not present at the office.
Mathibeli said: “They (cops) entered the control room and confiscated 14 firearms. All firearms are legally licensed. They were removed from the safe without lawful justification or proper documentation provided to my office. The officers further stated that they intended to remove all company firearms without giving valid reasons. They further attemped to force my employees to disclose where my kids are studying. And they even attempted to force my employee to take them to the school where my kids are studying.”
Mathibeli said that until date, he had not been formally informed where the confiscated firearms are being stored. Nor has proper documentation been left with his office.
Mkhwanazi denials questioned
“I question whether this conduct complies with the law. I do not know why my firearms were confiscated. One of my employees was detained for 24 hours and later released without being charged. Another employee was charged with possession of unlicensed firearms. Despite the fact that all firearms are licensed and were secured in the safe, not in her possession,” he said.
He stated that even though Mkhwanazi claims not to know him, he had taken the top cop to court. This is in the case where he is suing the provincial commissioner and the KZN police R15-million.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said in a statement: “Mr Mathibeli seems to have an obsession with police in KwaZulu-Natal and particularly, the Provincial Commissioner (Mkhwanazi). Police in KZN will now seek legal recourse against Mr Mathibeli for his image-tinting utterances. Now that Mr Mathibeli has introduced himself to the police in KZN, his utterances were simply an invitation to police in KZN to start looking into his business dealings. And police have learnt that he is a beneficiary of a tender with the Department of Health in Gauteng.
“Police in KwaZulu-Natal will give him the attention he is seeking and get the ball of investigations rolling. Police in KwaZulu-Natal did not know about Mr Mathibeli and his business dealings. And police would like to thank him for the voluntary invitation to his business operations.”
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe did not respond to questions sent to her at the time of publishing.
