Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says President Cyril Ramaphosa personally appointed him to chair and oversee the administrative work of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).
Mchunu made the statement while giving evidence before Parliament Ad Hoc Committee on Thursday, explaining his role and defending his decision to disband the PKTT earlier this year. He told the committee that his involvement was not self-assumed but came directly from the President.
“The President himself appointed me to chair the task team and to be responsible for its administrative work,” Mchunu said. “My role was clear, to make sure the team functioned properly and within the framework of the law.”
He argued that the PKTT was meant to be a temporary task team with a specific mandate to investigate politically motivated killings in KwaZulu-Natal, not a permanent structure within SAPS. According to Mchunu, continuing with it indefinitely was draining resources from other policing units. “When you concentrate too many resources in one area, other divisions are unable to perform their duties effectively,” he said.
However, National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has told a different story. Testifying before the Madlanga Commission, Masemola said Mchunu overreached his powers by issuing directives to disband the PKTT, an administrative function that falls under the authority of the National Commissioner, not the Minister.
Masemola told the Madlanga commission that operational and administrative decisions within the police service are not supposed to be made by the political head of the department. “The minister’s role is to provide oversight and policy direction, not to interfere with internal police operations,” he said.
The PKTT was formed to investigate a series of political assassinations that had rocked KwaZulu-Natal, especially linked to municipal and intra-party conflicts. Its disbandment has sparked widespread debate, with critics saying it may have weakened investigations into high-profile killings.
Mchunu maintains that his directive was guided by the Constitution and the President’s instruction. “The Constitution does not allow the police to protect some and not others,” he said. “My responsibility was to ensure fairness and proper policing for all South Africans.”
The minister will return to Parliament on Friday to face questions from the Ad Hoc Committee as the inquiry into alleged interference in policing continues.