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IOL News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Senzo Mchunu's change of tune on Brown Mogotsi sparks calls for inquiry
Professor Jean Steyn says Minister Senzo Mchunu's contradictory statements about politically connected figure Brown Mogotsi may point to an intentional cover-up. Image: Henk Kruger/Independent Newspapers Police Minister Senzo Mchunu's shifting statements about Brown Mogotsi — initially calling him 'some fellow' and later acknowledging him as a 'comrade' — raise serious concerns about credibility and accountability, says policing expert Professor Jean Steyn. Mchunu told Parliament on March 5 that he did not know Mogotsi, after being shown a photograph of the man who was allegedly claiming a false association with the minister. 'I don't know this person,' Mchunu said at the time. But in a statement issued on Wednesday, Mchunu admitted to having met Mogotsi. 'He is just a comrade, not an associate. I've never requested or received anything from him,' he said. Speaking to IOL News, Steyn said the minister's about-turn was troubling and suggested possible obfuscation. 'Minister Mchunu's initial distancing from Brown Mogotsi, followed by later acknowledging him as a comrade, is highly indicative of a strategic recalibration rather than mere forgetfulness or confusion,' he said. 'The backtracking is a red flag suggesting the minister's initial narrative was incomplete or deliberately misleading, warranting further investigation into their ties.' Mogotsi has been implicated in alleged political interference in police operations by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Mkhwanazi has accused Mchunu and other senior officials of colluding with a criminal syndicate linked to drug cartels and politically connected figures. Mchunu has denied the allegations. 'I've never met or spoken to Vusimuzi Matlala,' he said. Matlala, a businessman facing murder charges, is central to the claims. Mchunu confirmed initiating a review into a SAPS tender awarded to Matlala, which was subsequently terminated. Steyn said the alleged involvement of Mogotsi, who is not a police official, in discussions about disbanding a unit investigating political killings, was 'deeply concerning.' 'It suggests that politically connected non-official actors may be influencing operational decisions, undermining institutional independence,' he said. 'It compromises justice and enables impunity.' Mchunu, in a letter to National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola, wrote that the political killings task team — formed in 2019 following the Moerane Commission — was no longer necessary. 'My observation is that the continued existence of this team is no longer required nor adding value to policing in South Africa,' Mchunu stated, directing that the task team be disbanded and a report submitted by 20 January 2025. However, Masemola on Wednesday denied signing any directive to dismantle the team. Steyn noted that alleged WhatsApp messages between Mogotsi and Matlala — referring to 'protecting political interests' and 'targeting investigators' — were highly alarming. 'The language suggests deliberate attempts to obstruct or intimidate investigators,' he said. 'It could amount to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and reflects an environment where political loyalty overrides the law.' Steyn called for an urgent, independent inquiry and protective measures for investigators. He added that President Cyril Ramaphosa's response would be politically significant. 'Ramaphosa might initiate a judicial commission. Depending on its findings, he could suspend or remove implicated officials, including Mchunu, and implement reforms to insulate the police from political interference.' But real accountability, Steyn cautioned, would depend on political will. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance said it would lay criminal charges against Mchunu on Thursday at Cape Town Central Police Station, accusing him of misleading Parliament and interfering in police operations.
IOL News
02-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Political violence in KwaZulu-Natal: Why Moerane Commission recommendations remain unimplemented
Sibusiso Ncengwa will be sentenced next Monday for participating in the killing of Sindiso Magaqa, the former ANCYL secretary-general. Image: Bongani Hans The recommendations of the Moerane Commission, which investigated the spate of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, are gathering dust without being implemented seven years after they were released, while the killings continued unabated. Former premier Willies Mchunu said one of the recommendations was the establishment of an independent panel, which was to forge peace within and among political parties. Mchunu established the Advocate Marumo Moerane SC-led commission in October 2016 during the peak of political killings, which at the time exceeded 150, to identify their root cause and how they could be eliminated. He said Moerane suggested that the panel should help politicians, who would normally kill each other for tenders and positions. However, the establishment of the panel would require funding. 'Only the government, which keeps taxes, should be doing this,' he said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Premier Thami Ntuli and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the province had not yet responded to requests for comment. Mchunu, who was the premier between 2016 and 2019, said he could not establish this panel because his term of office was running out. The issue of political killings after the commission's recommendation was topical at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday when the NPA and defence lawyers debated it during Sibusiso Ncengwa's mitigation of sentence. Ncengwa will be sentenced next Monday after he confessed to the killing of the former ANC Youth League secretary-general, Sindiso Magaqa, who was an ANC councillor at the Mzimkhulu Municipality when he was gunned down in 2017. In his affidavit, Ncengwa confessed that he and his fellow hitmen were hired by the former mayor of the Mzimkhulu Municipality, Mluleki Ndobe, who was also ANC's Harry Gwala Region chairperson, and other senior officials, including a municipal manager, to eliminate Magaqa. Magaqa's sin was that he was about to spill the beans on the corrupt-riddled tender to build a local memorial hall. He was executed in broad daylight at a car wash on July 13, 2017. Other councillors who were with him survived with bullet wounds. The assassins were paid a total of R620,000 and also promised a R1 million tender. The State and the defence had agreed to a jail sentence of less than life on condition that Ncengwa would soon testify against the people his affidavit implicated. Ndobe committed suicide on November 6, 2020, while the assassin, Jabulani Mdunge, who allegedly shot Magaqa with an AK-47 obtained from a crime intelligence officer, was later killed in a shootout with police. Mchunu said the political killings in the province would not end as long as there are political parties' elective conferences, and general, local government, and by-elections, because politicians were greedy for power and material benefits. 'For those things (power and benefits), they will continue to fight one another to the extent of even killing one another. 'That is why there should be an independent programme to teach those who are participants in politics about how to conduct themselves civilly.' Mchunu said the provincial government should consult Moerane and the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) for advice on how to establish the peace-making body. During the court proceeding on Monday, NPA's Advocate Elvis Gcweku and Ncengwa's advocate, Andrew Matlamela, spoke about the political killings continuing after the Moerane Commission. People who testified at the commission about Magaqa's murder were lined up as witnesses in the murder trial. 'When I perused the commission's report, there was an opening quotation that says, 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'. 'That commission was clearly describing the state of KwaZulu-Natal in respect of the political killings,' said Ngcweku. He said the commission concluded that Magaqa's killing was linked to the corruption in Mzimkhulu Municipality, whose hall's construction took a long time than expected to be completed, while money had already been spent. Magaqa demanded progress in the construction and also proposed forensic investigations, and that the matter be debated at the council. 'What is common about the killing of politicians in KwaZulu-Natal is the issue of tenders and corruption within the municipalities,' said Ngcweku. He cited the killing of Sduduzo Magwaza, an ANC chairperson in Ward 102, north of Durban, as an example that, after Moerane had concluded his work, killings continued. Magwaza's murder in November 2021 was also connected to tenders. 'Similarities between this case (Magaqa) and that case (Magwaza) are that the comrades kill other comrades using hitmen,' Ngcweku said. Matlamela said the ANC was rotten when it came to political killings, which the party has refuted.
IOL News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Thabiso Zulu's vindication: Hitman's confession reveals state involvement in Magaqa's assassination
. Whistle-blower and former ANC Youth League Harry Gwala region secretary, Thabiso Zulu, testified at the Moerane Commission about Sindiso Magaqa's assassination. Image: Sibonelo Ngcobo / Independent Media A prominent anti-corruption activist, Thabiso Zulu, who was also Sindiso Magaqa's close friend, says he is vindicated by the revelation of the state's hand in the murder of the former ANC Youth League leader. Last week, in his confession under oath in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, the hitman, Sibusiso Ncengwa, revealed shocking details about the role played by the SAPS's Crime Intelligence Unit members in the planning and execution of the killing in 2017. Ncengwa, businessman Mbulelo Mpofana, former policeman Sibonelo Myeza, and Mlungisi Ncalane were arrested in 2018 and charged with Magaqa's murder, who, at the time, was an ANC councillor in Umzimkhulu Local Municipality.. The hitman disclosed the chilling SAPS involvement in the murder as well as the role played by National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) officials in ensuring the case's demise. He also named the late Harry Gwala District Municipality mayor, Mluleki Ndobe, and former Umzimkhulu Local Municipality manager, Zweliphansi Skhosana, as the masterminds, who paid just over a million rand for a hit on Magaqa. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Detailing the police's role, Ncengwa said that, using its slush funds, the police bought the AK-47 that they used to kill Magaqa. He also said they bought a Mercedes-Benz that was used to travel to Umzimkhulu and Durban. He said the police also ensured that no police members would arrest them on their way to Durban on the day of the shooting of Magaqa by escorting their vehicle, adding that the police officer who escorted them was paid R20,000. The hitman provided details about the NPA's involvement, stating that he would have confessed long ago if the agency hadn't attempted to stop him. He told the police officer in 2019 that he wanted to confess, but the NPA dismissed the prosecutor because it believed he would permit the confession, especially the one that implicated the police. The State accepted Ncengwa's guilty plea and would be sentenced at the end of the month. Reacting to the revelation, Zulu said he was not surprised and felt vindicated when he saw the hitman's confession because it was the same information he had gone public with. 'This is the same information I publicly revealed after the killing and even went to the Moerane Commission with. I always maintained that Magaqa was assassinated by the state, so the hitman's confession vindicates me,' said Zulu Magaqa's family spokesperson Dr Lwazi Magaqa said the family is in a bereavement for another death and was not able to speak about the matter for now. Dr Lwazi Magaqa, a spokesperson for the Magaqa family, stated that the family is grieving the loss of another member and is unable to discuss the situation at this time. The NPA and the SAPS are yet to comment on their alleged involvement. Speaking on a TV interview on Monday night, Zulu called for the arrest of all the people named by the hitman in his confession.
