Cele throws Mchunu under the bus

Former minister's testimony alleged corruption and political interference

- Nkateko Joseph Mabasa

Overstepping the mark: Senzo Mchunu, right, admitted that President Ramaphosa and police commissioner Fanie Masemola were not consulted about disbanding the unit. Photo: GCIS

(GCIS)

Former police minister Bheki Cele this week said his successor, Senzo Mchunu, had no power to disband a task team investigating political killings without consulting the national commissioner or the presidency, in the latest explosive testimony that pointed to the disarray in South Africa’s criminal justice system.

“The [police] minister cannot establish or disestablish. So it still has to go through the national police commissioner for establishment and disestablishment,” Cele told parliament’s ad hoc committee probing allegations of corruption in policing and intelligence, which have implicated Mchunu and deputy national commissioner for crime detection Shadrack Sibiya.

The KwaZulu-Natal-based task team was formed in 2018 to investigate the assassinations of councilors, activists and politicians, which had become endemic in the province. Mchunu has been accused of disbanding the team because it was closing in on Gauteng-based drug cartels he has been linked with.

On Wednesday, Cele said the task team had briefed President Cyril Ramaphosa on progress made in combating politically related cases two months before the May 2024 general elections, while he was still police minister. Cele said he subsequently had a two-hour handover meeting with Mchunu.

Cele dismissed Mchunu’s claims that the task team was financially unsustainable, saying the costs were comparable with other major initiatives such as Operation Thunder, launched in the Western Cape in 2018, to tackle gang violence and the Operation Vala uMgodi crackdown on illegal mining.