Masemola said the task team knew what it was doing, even though it could not explain its successes in the case to AfriForum.
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola told the Madlanga commission on Tuesday that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu had never presented any reasonable arguments to counter the successes of the political killings task team (PKTT).
In his alleged letter communicating the disbandment of the task team on 31 December 2024, Mchunu said in part that the team was not “adding any value to policing in South Africa. I therefore direct that the political killings task team be disestablished immediately.”
“He further said: ‘My observation is that further existence of this team is no longer required’.”
However, Masemola said Mchunu clearly explained what this “observation” of the task team was, which led to his conclusion that it must be disbanded.
Subsequent meetings in March 2025 to discuss the matter were also unproductive.
“Did the minister present any document that countered what you were saying about the task team and its successes?” asked Madlanga commissioner Advocate Sesi Baloyi.
ALSO READ: Masemola says Mchunu’s anger over ‘police doing a good job’ was ‘quite strange’
“No, commissioner, he never produced or presented anything that would counter. And even what informed him to come to the decision, he wouldn’t produce that. He said that after 1994, it’s just murders that are happening, not political killings. There was no document that he produced or any presentation whatsoever,” Masemola responded.
“Political killings have been taking place pre-94, even after ’94. I worked in KwaZulu-Natal from the year 2000 up to 2010, and during that period, I had a small team that was dealing with the very same political killings.”
Masemola on task team complaints
While in parliamentary sessions, Fadiel Adams of the National Coloured Congress described the PKTT as “nothing more than a terror group“, outside, AfriForum complained about its “uselessness”.
The task team was also investigating the murder of DA councillor Nhlalayenza Ndlovu in December 2023. At the same time, the Umgeni local municipality had allegedly contracted AfriForum to investigate the matter, said Masemola.
The organisation allegedly wrote a letter to Masemola complaining that the task team had not been providing it with feedback on the case.
ALSO READ: KZN plagued by mass murders, political killings – Mkhwanazi notes successful convictions
“They were saying they were not getting a briefing from the political police task team, and they think the team don’t know what they are doing, they are on the wrong course, they need to be briefed,” said Masemola.
“So in that regard, we couldn’t really go out and brief AfriForum on everything, because we knew what we were doing, and we were aware that AfriForum has been contracted by the Umgeni municipality to also do a private investigation on the matter.
“So we couldn’t collect information every time and then go and give it to them. We have a direct link with the widow of the councillor Ndlovu. If we ever need to provide her with feedback, we will be able to do so. And if we have to give the municipality that leeway as well, we have that option.
‘Useless’
Masemola said the task team knew what it was doing, even though it could not explain its successes in the case to AfriForum.
“We knew what we were having in our cards, and we can only give them that which we want to give. We can’t give everything to AfriForum. So, that was the issue,” said Masemola.
“Then they wrote this letter complaining to me and the minister that they are not getting feedback, and this PKTT is useless, it’s not competent, and so on.
“So we couldn’t really get to their level to argue those points, because we knew what we were doing.”
KZN police have arrested two suspects in this case.
ALSO READ: No arrests made on task team dockets despite instructions to do so – Mkhwanazi
