A new annual celebration for the calendar: July is now Justice Month

It is the month that brought South Africans to the intersection of cops, prison warders, politicians and the criminal underworld.

- By Bhekisisa Mncube

h, Chief Dwasaho! July, by far the longest month since the invention of the Gregorian calendar, has finally expired no turkey, no fairy lights, just Breaking News. Instead of “Christmas in July”, we got Crime Scenes aplenty.

My leader, July 2025 will be remembered as the month that gave us the most expensive press conference in South African history, courtesy of KwaZulu-Natal's no-nonsense top cop, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

His 6 July press conference lasted just under an hour. Still, the investigations that it birthed will cost an eye-watering R147.9-million not for bottled water or a mic, but for the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system arising from the specific allegations he made public.

But can we give the general his flowers while the lilies are fresh? Unlike many of our overscripted ministers who confuse “pressers” with amateur sketch performances, Mkhwanazi arrived armed with results. His unit, the so-called Political Killings Task Team, turned July into Justice Month.

Ten politically or gang-linked murders were solved, all linked by ballistics to a single AK-47 allegedly belonging to KT Molefe and his gang. Suspects arrested. Crime networks rattled.

Now, the headline act: Katiso “KT” Molefe (61), a Sandton businessman by title, but allegedly a drug trafficker, racketeer and underworld boss by reputation. He stands accused of masterminding the murder of DJ Sumbody, who was killed along with his two bodyguards back in 2022.

But that was only Molefe's opening act. He is also linked to the assassination of Soweto's DJ Vintos, real name Hector Buthelezi, and the murder of businessman Don Tindleni. Then there's the April 2024 killing of Armand Swart, a Vereeniging engineer gunned down in a case of mistaken identity. The intended target was a whistle-blower at Swart's company who had lifted the lid on Transnet tender corruption.