
Top 10 stories of the day: Mkhwanazi drags Mchunu
In today's news update, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi says he's ready to die for the badge, while government has dismissed 'disinformation' about terrorism in South Africa.
Additionally, DA leader John Steenhuisen has been warned against insubordination regarding the national dialogue.
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'We don't want him to be a pop star': Allegations by KZN police commissioner Mkhwanazi sparks uproar
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Picture: Gallo Images/Darren Stewart
KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi's explosive allegations against Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and senior officials within the South African Police Service (Saps) has triggered widespread public and political reaction.
Mkhwanazi alleged political interference in police's operations in a briefing held on Sunday.
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Dirco slams old travel advisory about terrorism in South Africa
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
The International Relations Department (Dirco) has slammed an old UK travel advisory warning British nationals about terrorism in South Africa, saying it is a 'classic example of disinformation'.
Posts on X have revived the terror warning in South Africa, which was first issued in 2022 and again in April 2024.
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Should criminal offenders be given chance to pay off victims?
Picture: iStock
Criminal court rolls are being sped up by allowing victims and offenders to agree on monetary compensation.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms bridge the gap between time consuming prosecutions and the quest for justice.
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Steenhuisen warned of 'insubordination' over national dialogue stance
Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen. Picture: Per-Anders Pettersson / Getty Images
Cracks in the government of national unity (GNU) are becoming gulfs as its biggest parties exchange threats.
Relations between the ANC and DA have been frayed almost since the onset of the GNU, but have taken extra strain this past week.
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Western Cape school principal gets job back after demotion over 'kwedini' remark to his deputy
Picture: iStock
A primary school principal in the Western Cape who was demoted for calling his deputy a 'kwedini' (small boy) and threatening to hit him has been reinstated following a successful appeal.
Earlier this year, Mvuysi Stanley Damba was demoted to a teaching position at Sobambisana Primary School in Khayelitsha.
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Here are five more stories of the day:
Yesterday's News recap
READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: Mabuza funeral | Springboks beat Italy | 2025 Durban July
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Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
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SAPS commissioner accuses police minister of derailing probe into political killings
KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has alleged that senior figures, including Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, undermined investigations into political killings and organised crime. Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, on Sunday claimed that the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team was orchestrated to shield politically connected members of a criminal syndicate from prosecution, with the assistance of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu. Mkhwanazi said, 'I can confirm before South Africans today that the investigation which these members were involved with in Gauteng has unmasked the syndicate, and this syndicate involves, amongst others, politicians who are currently serving in Parliament.' He said some syndicate members were in 'the South African Police Service, the metro police and Correctional Services. They include prosecutors in Gauteng province, the judiciary … and all these are controlled by the drug cartel and businesspeople in Gauteng. This act, of course, undermines the criminal justice system in this country.' In a presentation shared to accompany the briefing, Mkhwanazi outlined the allegations. The Political Killings Task Team was formed after the 2018 assassination of ANC activist Musawenkosi 'Qashana' Mchunu. Backed by a multi-agency presidential task force and praised for its prosecution-led, intelligence-driven strategy, the team had, by 2025, investigated more than 600 politically related dockets, arrested 436 suspects, and recovered 156 firearms, with at least 55 of them linked to political crimes. Convictions to date total over 1,800 years in prison across more than 100 cases. Daily Maverick reported that on 31 December 2024, Police Minister Mchunu issued a letter to National Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Fannie Masemola, requesting that the team be disbanded. The minister said the task team was no longer necessary because it did not add value to policing in the province, according to the SABC. Despite this instruction, Mkhwanazi said at the time he would continue the fight to ensure the task team was allowed to proceed with high-profile investigations. Mkhwanazi said members of the task team were working with detectives in Gauteng on possible cover-ups in murder cases in the province that involved senior police officers. The disbandment of the task team was followed by a series of internal memos from SAPS Crime Detection head Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya withdrawing 121 case dockets from the team without the approval of the national or provincial commissioners. These dockets have reportedly sat untouched at the SAPS head office ever since. WhatsApp messages Sunday's briefing included explosive revelations such as WhatsApp messages and screenshots allegedly sourced from the phone of accused businessman Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, showing communication between Matlala, Minister Mchunu and a politically connected intermediary, Brown Mogotsi. The chats suggest knowledge of the task team's disbandment before it was made public, direct discussions of 'solutions' to investigations and apparent financial support for political campaigns and 8 January ANC events. Matlala was arrested by the task team in May and faces charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and money laundering. Less than two weeks later, the Investigative Directorate Against Corruption moved to seize the task team's exhibits, including Matlala's cellphone, and arrested the team's project coordinator. One of the syndicate suspects arrested by the team, Katiso Molefe, was granted bail. The effect, Mkhwanazi said on Sunday, had been chilling, with the Gauteng investigations into organised crime 'compromised' and confidence in the State's willingness to prosecute politically connected suspects further eroded. The EFF expressed grave concern, saying the briefing laid bare 'the existence of a powerful, organised criminal syndicate operating at the highest levels of the South African state'. The EFF urged the chairperson on Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron, to convene an urgent portfolio committee sitting for a briefing from Mchunu. Cameron said the DA had written to National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza for an urgent debate in Parliament on corruption within the SAPS. 'These disturbing allegations of corruption, political interference and malfeasance at the very top of South Africa's law enforcement and national security infrastructure must be investigated immediately,' said Cameron. 'The President of the republic, who is presently away, must also immediately respond to allegations against a Cabinet minister.' 'Great role model' On social media on Sunday, Eskom board chairperson Mteto Nyati called Mkhwanazi 'a great role model' and said his 'decision to speak out' was 'exemplary'. Build One South Africa (Bosa)said it was 'disturbed by the string of weighty revelations. Of particular concern is General Mkhwanazi's claim that the task team appointed to investigate police killings was deliberately sabotaged from within the South African Police Service (SAPS). If true, this fundamentally undermines the integrity of our criminal justice institutions and threatens public safety. 'His allegations implicate senior police officials, prosecutors, judges, members of Parliament and members of the executive in acts that sabotage law enforcement and enable political killings. 'These are the symptoms of a state in capture crisis, where criminal syndicates and corrupt politicians allegedly operate with impunity.' Bosa joined the growing calls for Mchunu, Mkhwanazi and others involved to urgently appear before Parliament. Mkhwanazi's briefing ended with a call to SAPS members to 'stand up and protect our people against this criminal syndicate', even as he confirmed a formal criminal investigation was under way into the apparent capture of parts of South Africa's criminal justice system. 'Despite all these challenges, we acknowledge and appreciate the resilience of the members of the Political Killings Task Team,' said Mkhwanazi. 'They remain operational, albeit with serious attempts to disrupt their work.' Daily Maverick reached out to Mchunu's spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, for comment and received a video of the minister saying: 'We have become aware of what General Mkhwanazi has been saying. I didn't have time to look at TV, but there are those statements that he has said. We will, in good time, apply our minds to those kinds of statements.' DM


Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
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Lack of political chemistry between SA leaders spells big problems for the GNU
The spat over whether the DA is disobeying the President by refusing to join the National Dialogue is indicative of a major problem within SA's national coalition. There is no chemistry between the leaders of the DA and the ANC, which threatens to poison the entire arrangement. On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the DA's refusal to join the National Dialogue was the 'worst form of hypocrisy'. Others in the ANC have said that if DA leader John Steenhuisen refused to join the interministerial committee driving the process, it would be an act of defiance against the President. This shows that while the DA's announcement that it would not join the dialogue was initially viewed as a weak response to the sacking of the DA's deputy minister Andrew Whitfield, it has hit home with Ramaphosa and the ANC. It is more proof that, after the coalition has been in office for more than a year, personal relationships between the leaders of its two main parties have not improved. 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At the time, all of those involved in the negotiations had a huge incentive to engender trust. All sides claimed to want a democratic solution and to avoid violence. Also, most of those involved knew very little about each other. When the process started, many of them had never met. Even then, there were angry words between Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, and moments of great tension. The situation now is very different. It is not just that the politicians know one another; it's that they all have long histories of shouting and screaming at each other. The ANC was in power for so long by itself, and the DA in opposition for so many years, that it is easy for members of both parties to fall back on what they know. It can almost seem as if their leaders are most comfortable when fighting each other. Another factor is that there was virtually no preparation for the leaders before they had to work together. Before the election, when the DA was trying to form the Moonshot Pact — a group of parties that could, together, beat the ANC — leaders understood how much work had to be done beforehand. Workshops The founder of the Democracy Works Foundation, Professor William Gumede, ended up running workshops between the leaders of the parties involved in that pact, trying to engender trust between them. There was none of that in this national coalition government. Another factor is the sheer social distance between the leaders of the parties in the coalition. They have grown up in such different circumstances that it may be difficult for them to understand each other. This might seem strange when there is plenty of evidence that millions of South Africans from very different communities interact productively every hour of every day. But in our politics, the more a leader can attack other groups, the more they are rewarded. While the ANC and the DA are in SA's political centre, their leaders have very strong views on issues, which makes it harder for them to work together. And it should not be forgotten just how tough our society is, how raw the disputes are. When the PAC recently brokered a meeting between the ANC and Afrikaner groups (in another indication of how interesting and complex our society is), it described the discussions as having 'blood on the floor, blood on the wall'. This is because of how far apart these groups are, and how their leaders have to manage difficult dynamics. Of course, one hopes that our leaders can rise above all of this.