South Africas Madlanga Commission so far: An alleged drug cartel and a murdered witness

South Africans have long suspected corruption and political interference were at work in the police force but in the past few months allegations appearing to confirm this have been aired in two public inquiries.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is currently digesting the contents of an interim report from a commission he established to investigate illegality within the police.

It was set up after senior police officer Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged in July that organised crime groups had infiltrated the government.

His dramatic intervention led to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu being put on special leave.

Lt-Gen Mkhwanazi, who heads up the police in KwaZulu-Natal province, claimed that Mchunu had ties to crime kingpins and this was why he shut down an elite unit investigating political murders.

Mchunu, a senior member of Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) and a close ally of the president, has denied any wrongdoing.

But to investigate the allegations, Ramaphosa asked retired Constitutional Court judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga to head up a public inquiry. Parliament in Cape Town set up its own panel to investigate the matter.

“As I see it now, this is terrorism,” Gen Mkhwanazi said appearing as the Madlanga Commission’s first witness in September.

These are “people who want to take over government, not through the ballot paper but through these criminal activities”.

In the three months of testimony from the parallel inquiries, South Africans have heard about an alleged drug cartel with political connections and a businessman, who is awaiting trial for attempted murder, with alleged ties to leading government figures. A witness at the Madlanga Commission was also murdered after giving evidence.

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

Among the most explosive evidence was the testimony given by police crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo.

Appearing before the Madlanga Commission within the first month of hearings, Lt-Gen Khumalo alleged there was a drug trafficking cartel, headed by individuals who he called the Big Five, operating in several provinces, which had “penetrated the political sphere”.

He named two figures from the five alleged leaders of this criminal gang, one of them being controversial businessman Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.

Mr Matlala is currently facing 25 criminal charges, among them attempted murder.

These stem from three separate incidents that occurred between 2022 and 2024. He has denied all the charges against him.

The crime intelligence boss claimed the Big Five led a network with widespread influence across the country.

He alleged that it was a cartel, that was operating both locally and abroad, and dealt mainly with narcotics but also carried out contract killings “associated with the drug trafficking processes”, cross-border hijackings and kidnappings.

This cartel had tentacles within the country’s criminal justice system, and this allowed them to “manipulate investigations, suppress evidence [and] obstruct legal proceedings that threaten their activities”, Lt-Gen Khumalo added.

It was this grouping that was allegedly behind the disbandment of the political killings task team (PKTT), which was working mainly in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

This is because the cartel “mistakenly thought the PKTT was investigating” them, Lt-Gen Khumalo told the commission.

“The Big Five has already penetrated the political sphere and there are documented cases of high-profile connections in the political arena,” the policeman alleged.

Another witness at the Madlanga Commission had been part of the PKTT. Anonymised – and known only as “witness C” – he also mentioned what he called the Big Five cartel, alleging it had “full control and oversight” in every government department.

Central to the allegations against the suspended police minister is his alleged close relationship with “Cat” Matlala.

At the Madlanga Commission, Mkhwanazi repeated claims he had made at a press conference in July that Mchunu was indirectly receiving financial support from the businessman to fund his “political endeavours”.

He shared copies of text messages and a payment allegedly made by Matlala to prove this at the time. These payments were seemingly facilitated by a third party.

During his appearance at the Madlanga Commission Mchunu refuted the allegations saying that he had “never been accused of corruption, not once”.

“This is the first time I get accused of such.”

Mr Matlala had a lucrative contract with the police before it was abruptly cancelled when he was charged for attempted murder in May.

In 2001, he was convicted and served time for the possession of stolen goods.

Over the years, he would be arrested for a string of alleged crimes, including house robberies, a cash-in-transit heist and assault, but in all cases he denied involvement and was either acquitted or had the charges withdrawn against him.

Appearing at the parliamentary inquiry, Mr Matlala said he had turned his life around in 2017, when he “formally registered my first business which was a security business”.

As he is now in custody over the attempted murder charge, he gave evidence with restraints around his ankles. Over the course of his two-day testimony in front of MPs Mr Matlala laid bare his description of relationships with former and current ministers as well as top police officials.

Apart from being accused of having close ties to Mchunu, Mr Matlala has been linked to others in the police force.

He denied knowing the senior police officers and politicians personally but admitted making payments for ANC-related activities.

“From what I understand, the minister [Mchunu] sent [a third party] to go ask for donations there and there, and I was one of them,” Mr Matlala told MPs.

He also told the parliamentary panel that after the authorities had returned firearms seized from him, former Police Minister Bheki Cele had demanded “a facilitation fee” of 1m rand ($60,000; £45,000) to which he only paid half the amount. Mr Matlala alleged that Cele also allegedly asked for this money to stop harassment from the police.

Cele, who testified before Mr Matlala’s appearance at the parliamentary committee, admitted to MPs that he had known Mr Matlala for a couple of months and had stayed at his penthouse on two occasions as these were “freebies”.

He, however, denied receiving money from Mr Matlala.

Mr Matlala has not yet appeared at the Madlanga Commission but is expected to have a chance to speak there at some point next year.

Various witnesses, however, painted a different picture of Mr Matlala’s relationship with the police.

Witness C told the Madlanga Commission that Mr Matlala had “close relationships with senior [police] officials” and had detailed the extent of this after police arrested him back in May.

The witness alleged that Mr Matlala contributed money towards the now-suspended police minister’s presidential ambitions within the ANC even though he did not believe he would win.

A witness at the Madlanga Commission was murdered in early December, just three weeks after he gave testimony.

It is not clear if the two events were connected.

Marius van der Merwe, who was identified only as “Witness D” during his appearance, was killed in full view of his family.

He had just returned home in the evening and was gunned down as he waited for the front gate to open. No arrests have been made but three people of interest have been identified by police. The motive for the shooting is unclear.

The identity of Mr Van der Merwe, a former police officer who ran a private security company, was confirmed by authorities after his murder.

In his appearance in front of Judge Madlanga he had implicated officials, including Brig Julius Mkhwanazi (no relation to Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi) who was acting police chief for an area including parts of Johannesburg.

There he had claimed Brig Mkhwanazi ordered him to get rid of the body of a man accused of robbery who had allegedly been tortured and killed by police officials.

Commenting on this, Mr Van der Merwe told the commission: “I really did not have a chance to agree. I felt like I was being forced.”

In his testimony, Brig Mkhwanazi denied having any involvement in the case including the alleged disposal of the body. Instead, he told the commission he had been called to the scene of a crime within the municipality and had stayed there for “two to three minutes”.

Mr Van der Merwe’s death after giving evidence sparked outrage across South Africa.

The targeting of whistleblowers has become common in the country, with rights groups like Human Rights Watch noting that “many face retaliation, loss of livelihood and even loss of life”.

The authorities revealed that Mr Van der Merwe had refused witness protection following his testimony at the commission.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that Judge Madlanga’s interim report would not be made public as it was not “helpful to start… debating on something that is half-baked”.

The final report – expected next year – “will be made available to the public”.

“The commissioner will [however] advise the president on areas that are of national security sensitivity and how those areas will need to be managed,” he added in a briefing to journalists.

The Madlanga Commission is carrying out its work in three phases; the first phase gave witnesses a chance to present their allegations.

The second phase, currently under way, allows those implicated by evidence given to the inquiry, like Mchunu, to respond to the allegations made against them.

The final phase will recall witnesses mentioned in the first phase to clarify or make additions to their statements.

The Madlanga Commission was given six months to complete its work and submit a final report, but this can be extended as the “president may determine”, according to its terms of reference. It is not clear how long the parliamentary inquiry will run but it too is expected to resume hearings in 2026.

South Africans will now have to wait until some point next year to read the findings and recommendations from both inquiries. The question they are asking is whether these will be enough to force the government to deal with the problems critics say exist in the police service.