'Even if the minister had the authority, he had to first consult with all the relevant stakeholders.'
Major-General Mary Motsepe, component head for serious and violent crime investigations, has told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) should not have been disbanded without proper consultation with relevant stakeholders.
Last month, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu admitted to parliament’s ad hoc committee that he did not have a meeting with KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and Crime Intelligence’s Dumisani Khumalo to discuss the disbanding of the PKTT.
Mchunu pleaded with parliament not to make him “feel” guilty for not calling a meeting with the officers to discuss the disbandment of the PKTT. He said not calling a meeting was not proof that he does not consult his colleagues before making decisions, either.
Consultations necessary
Appearing before the Madlanga commission, Motsepe said that although she was not involved in the disbandment process, she believes the task team should not have been disbanded without consultation, especially in light of the upcoming local government elections next year.
“Although I was not involved in the disbandment process, I agree with the view that the PKTT should not have been disbanded without proper consultation. I do not know if the minister has the authority to disband the PKTT.
“However, even if the minister had the authority, he had to first consult with all the relevant stakeholders, which would have included me as the component head responsible for serious and violent crimes,” said Motsepe.
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“I also do not agree that the PKTT should have been disbanded before the upcoming elections. It is a well known fact that KZN has the highest incidents of political killings and there’s usually a spike in politically-motivated killings before elections.
“It does not make sense to disband the PKTT immediately, unless the stakeholders had advised the minister that immediate disbandment would be appropriate.”
PKTT dockets
While Mkhwanazi took issue with Mchunu’s disbanding of the PKTT, removing the task team’s dockets from KZN to Saps head office in Pretoria without his knowledge was another issue.
During this confusion about the future of the task team, on 26 March 2025, 118 “under investigation” dockets were handed over to Lieutenant-General Khosi Senthumule on the instruction of Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya.
On 10 April 2025, three additional dockets still under investigation by the team were handed over to the Saps head office in Pretoria on the instruction of Sibiya, making it 121 dockets in all.
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During his testimony, Mkhwanazi said five of the 121 case dockets that were taken from the PKTT were ready for arrest. However, the arrests were not effected.
Motsepe told the commission that arrests were not effected because her unit did not have funding to run such operations after Masemola denied her request.
‘No formal communication’
Motsepe said she learned about the dockets’ movement in March 2025. However, she was never formally notified of this and heard about it in a passing conversation with Senthumule.
“General Senthumule and I were from General Sibiya’s office; it was an informal meeting. As we were about to leave at the entrance, General Senthumule asked me if I had heard about the PKTT disbandment. I said I was not aware.
“She said all those dockets are coming to you. I said it’s fine because political killings fall within my mandate. She said they were still busy with the discussion thereof and I would be involved later,” Motsepe said.
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She further received a call from Senthumule on 27 March asking Motsepe to accompany her to Crime Intelligence to meet Khumalo and collect the PKTT dockets.
“I didn’t ask much about it because weeks before, she had sensitised me about the collection. I arranged for someone to accompany her. The dockets were put in the strongroom at the head office.”
‘No explanation’ on PKTT dockets
However, although she agreed to take the dockets at the time, she did not know why they were brought to the head office in the first place.
“From the onset, I didn’t know why they were coming to the head office. There was no proper explanation given as to why they were coming to the head office,” she said.
“In the first week of April, I asked about the dockets because no one had said anything to us. General Senthumule told me they were going back to KZN to the PKTT.
“I asked why they were in the head office in the first place if they were to be sent back again. She said they still needed to make arrangements with General Mkhwanazi.”
Motsepe said she was informed that the dockets had been brought to the head office purely to be audited. The auditing was done at Crime Intelligence.
However, the commissioners could not understand why the dockets could not be audited in KZN.
Investigation
While arrangements were being made to return the dockets to KZN, Mkhwanazi informed the head office he wanted nothing to do with them.
Senthumule escalated Mkhwanazi’s answer to Masemola, who told her Sibiya should decide what to do with them.
“On 19 May, I was called by General Sinthumule to meet at General Sibiya’s office. General Sibiya said General Mkhwanazi refused the dockets and the national commissioner advised that he must use his discretion,” she said.
Sibiya informed Motsepe that the ball was now in her court, as political killings fall under her unit.
“I think what changed the process from just auditing to investigating was that General Mkhwanazi refused the dockets. I did put myself in General Mkhwanazi’s shoes. You can’t just take dockets and say it’s for auditing processes and then return them.”
The dockets were eventually returned to KZN on 28 August.
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