National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s instruction to immediately disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) was unlawful and amounted to political interference in operational policing.
According to evidence presented at the Commission, Mchunu issued a letter on 31 December 2024 ordering the immediate disbandment of the PKTT and requesting a preliminary progress report by 20 January 2025. At the time, Masemola was on leave until 14 January.
Masemola testified that the timing of the instruction appeared calculated to take effect while he was away. “It looked like it was designed to happen while I was still on leave,” he said. “So I said to the officials: prepare the reports, but no disbandment. The first report was only due on the 20th, and I would be back by the 14th.”
The Commissioner emphasized that while the Minister may provide strategic direction, operational decisions, such as whether to dissolve a specialized unit, fall solely under the authority of the National Commissioner. “Ordering the disbandment of a specialized unit is unlawful, it falls outside the Minister’s mandate,” Masemola told the Commission.
Masemola further said that in principle, if confronted with an unlawful instruction, he would refuse to carry it out. However, in the case of the PKTT, he did not outright reject the Minister’s directive, opting instead for a phased wind-down. “I instructed Sibiya to wind down the political killings team in phases to avoid compromising the work already done,” he said.
The Political Killings Task Team was created to investigate politically motivated murders, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where assassinations of public officials and political leaders have become a persistent crisis. Masemola argued that disbanding the unit without due process would have jeopardized sensitive investigations and undermined public trust in the SAPS.
“This approach allowed the work to continue safely while respecting the statutory boundaries of the National Commissioner’s authority,” he said.
The Madlanga Commission is probing allegations of political interference in policing and the extent to which ministerial directives may have encroached on the independence of the SAPS.
Mchunu, currently suspended, has not yet formally responded to the allegations made against him.