An organised criminal syndicate influenced the Ministry of Police to disband the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team.
This was revealed on Monday by SA Police Service’s (SAPS) divisional commissioner for crime intelligence, Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo.
Khumalo was testifying at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria.
During his testimony, Khumalo told evidence leader, Advocate Adila Hassim SC, that he believes an organised criminal cartel influenced the Ministry of Police to take a decision to disband the task team.
SAPS infiltrated by criminals
He said he would tell the commission about the infiltration of the SAPS and the criminal justice system by organised criminal cartels.
Khumalo further said that he would elaborate his view on the alleged influence during the course of his testimony.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who is on special leave, sent a letter on December 31, 2024, to the national commissioner of police, General Fannie Masemola, informing him that he had decided to immediately disband the political killings task team.
Khumalo stated that from the time Mchunu became police minister in July 2024 until December 31, 2024, there had been no discussions about disbanding the task team.
Khumalo also told the commission that there are other parts of his testimony that he can only testify about in-camera and not in public.
Testifying in camera
He said the purpose of testifying in camera for other aspects of his testimony is because there are ongoing criminal investigations in certain cases, and he wants to protect the investigations and the identity of people involved in certain cases and does not want to publicly reveal the methods that the crime intelligence division uses to combat crime.
Khumalo was appointed project coordinator of the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team in July 2018 and later served as its project leader in September 2018.
President Cyril Ramaphosa established the commission on July 13, following KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive media briefing on July 6.
At the media briefing, Mkhwanazi said politicians in parliament, police officers, metro police officers, correctional service officials, prosecutors and members of the judiciary in Gauteng were part of a criminal syndicate, stating that they were being controlled by drug cartels and business people in Gauteng.
The commission continues.
