Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu. Picture: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers
Following months of observation of the SAPS after being appointed Minister of Police earlier last year, Senzo Mchunu has issued a directive for National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola to disband the task team into political killings.
In a letter dated December 31, 2024, Mchunu also halted the filling of posts in the Intelligence Division and called for a review of SAPS personnel and efficiency at ports of entry.
“In the past few months towards the end of 2024, I have made observations on a number of important aspects of the SAPS and policing. For purposes of this letter I’m focusing on the three aspects that require very urgent attention to address some of the challenges at hand,” he said.
Mchunu said the National Commissioner of Police following a directive established the inter-ministerial task force in 2019 following the Moerane Commission report.
He said the key mandate was to stop, investigate, and resolve unresolved murders of politicians in the country, especially in KwaZulu-Natal.
“My observation in this regard as indicated above is that further existence of this team is no longer required nor is it adding any value to policing in South Africa. I therefore direct that the Political Killings Task Team be disestablished immediately,” he said.
Mchunu requested that a preliminary report be submitted to him by January 20, while the final report must be submitted during the Ministry-Management Executive Committee meeting later this month.
Willem Els, from the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), told Independent Media that he believes that the first two directives regarding the Intelligence Division and the review and recommendations into Border Management are part of the minister’s intervention to try to reverse the effects of state capture and to bring SAPS up to par with service delivery.
“We can see this as a good governance decision,” he said.
However, with regard to the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team, Els said they do not understand this directive because the minister did not elaborate.
“There are still several investigations ongoing, that is the dark horse. I tried to wrap my mind around it since I got the communiqué early this morning and it doesn’t make sense to us. I think we need more information before we can do a real assessment as to his motivation behind this decision,” he said.
Els speculated that perhaps there is an imminent arrest to wrap up the team, “but that we don’t know… or maybe he wants to move Crime Intelligence there, we don’t know, he played his cards close to his chest”.
In a report by ‘The Mercury’ in September last year, former police minister Bheki Cele said the police were making progress in the fight against political killings in KwaZulu-Natal despite the challenges they faced during their investigations.
He said since 2018, when the task team was formed, their work had resulted in the arrest of 348 suspects in 233 cases.
“Sixty-two suspects have been convicted, while 155 are going through the court processes. Seventeen arrested suspects have since died during the court processes.”
At the time of the report, Cele said 52 councillors, 31 from the ANC, had been gunned down since 2011.
“Alarmingly, 103 officials working within municipalities as political office bearers and officials in political offices were killed. Causative factors for these crimes are linked to intra-political conflicts, with a few cases linked to other motives, such as taxi violence, domestic-related issues, business competition and traditional leadership competition, as well as family feuds.”
karen.singh@inl.co.za