National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola says the SA Police Service (SAPS) faces acute operational pressures but is not in a state of crisis.
Masemola took the witness box on Thursday, a day after KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Lt‑Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi completed his three day testimony at the ad hoc committee on the capture in the criminal justice system.
Masemola told the committee that some entities, notably the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, had reporting links to the minister by statute while operational support and day‑to‑day management remained the commissioner’s responsibilities.
He warned that parallel structures created for political ends could distract from the core responsibility of fighting crime.
“We are doing our best to correct wrongs that are there by also rooting out and addressing those who off-ramp from the principles,” he told MPs.
“Since Covid‑19, the country has never been the same,” he said, referring to broader societal pressures that according to him had altered demands on policing.
Masemola said his deputy Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya had pushed for the immediate disbandment of the political killings task team (PKTT), despite not being part of its operation.
The task team was established in 2018 to investigate politically motivated killings. It was disbanded in December 2024 by police minister Senzo Mchunu in a letter directed to Masemola.
“I indicated to him [Sibiya] to leave the matter, but he was of the view the disbandment should happen immediately,” Masemola said.
Masemola told MPs he had received the ministerial directive of December 31 2024 while on leave. It ordered a halt to filling intelligence posts and the immediate dissolution of the task team.
“Sibiya attended one briefing from the team. Other than that, he wouldn’t know much about the establishment and all that.”
He said a phased wind‑down would have been the prudent operational approach.
“None of Mchunu’s reasons for disbanding the PKTT were valid,” Masemola told the evidence leader, Norman Arendse.
Masemola also told the committee that an internal audit had raised red flags regarding the R360m Medicare24 Tshwane contract. “The final internal audit report concluded that members of the bid evaluation and bid adjudication committees must be subjected to disciplinary processes,” he said.
Mkhwanazi, whose testimony preceded that of Masemola, made specific operational allegations that the committee must now test against primary records.
Forensic tracing
He told MPs investigators were conducting forensic tracing of transactions in a trust account he associates with suspended minister Senzo Mchunu and that accounts linked to intermediaries, including Brown Mogotsi and a businessman in the North West, were under examination.
Masemola confirmed he had audit material in his possession, and that steps had been taken to obtain devices.
He said search and seizure warrants had been executed to secure devices and that Sibiya would appear to answer questions about docket handling.
Asked by Arendse whether he concurred with Mkhwanazi on the imprisonment of journalists who published classified intelligence material, Masemola said: “I would not go that far.”
He nevertheless agreed that credible allegations that journalists or intermediaries had been paid to facilitate leakages should be investigated through proper complaint channels.
Masemola will be on the stand again on Friday morning when the committee members will take turns to question him.
With TimesLIVE
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