As a group of Ekurhuleni municipal staff sing in city manager Imogen Mashazi’s honour, senior Ekurhuleni police officer Julius Mkhwanazi says: “We will die for you. I will take a bullet for you.”
“Thank you,” says Mashazi.
This scene was revealed in a video played at the Madlanga commission on Thursday during the evidence of Xolani Nciza, former Ekurhuleni divisional head for employee relations. The municipality did not hold official Christmas parties but this was “some form of a Christmas party that was arranged by the city manager’s office. And specific individuals then get invited … that are close to her.”
Over the last two weeks, the commission has heard allegations that Mkhwanazi colluded with alleged criminal cartel leader Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. Witnesses testified that Mkhwanazi unlawfully registered cars belonging to Matlala’s security companies under the municipality’s name, and they were then fitted with blue lights. He gave these companies letters under Ekurhuleni metropolitan police department (EMPD) letterheads stating that they were in “working relationships” with the police — effectively providing them carte blanche should they be stopped by law enforcement.
The commission also heard shocking claims of “blatant” criminal acts by officers who reported to Mkhwanazi, including a murder. After the murder, Mkhwanazi was called to the scene and gave instructions on how to “dispose of the body”, said witness “D”, who was present.
On top of blocking Mkhwanazi’s disciplinary tribunal, Mashazi went further, said Nciza. She amended the municipality’s long-standing disciplinary procedure.
An attempt to hold Mkhwanazi accountable through a disciplinary tribunal for the “blue lights saga” was resolutely blocked by the city manager. Witnesses testified that Mashazi went to extraordinary lengths to protect Mkhwanazi because of their “proximity”. In this she was aided by human resources head of department, Linda Gxasheka, and head of legal, Kemi Behari, witnesses said.
Nciza brought the video to the commission to illustrate this “proximity”. Commissioner Sesi Baloyi SC asked whether it could ever be appropriate, in a work context, for an employee to say they would take a bullet for their superior. Nciza said the interaction was “beyond an anomaly”.
It “means I am loyal to you, I am not loyal to the institution,” he said. The institution was meant to provide for the residents of Ekurhuleni. “And he is effectively saying I will give loyalty to this individual and not to the people that, actually, I am supposed to serve.”
On top of blocking Mkhwanazi’s disciplinary tribunal, Mashazi went further, said Nciza. She amended the municipality’s long-standing disciplinary procedure.
The blue lights internal investigation, instructed by deputy police chief Revo Spies, was triggered by a media query from News24’s Jeff Wicks. The new procedure would have meant that when Wicks inquired, Spies would not have been able to instruct an investigation — “he would have had to take that query and give it to Behari”.
Senior management were “hellbent” on protecting Mkhwanazi, said Nciza. The change to the disciplinary procedure was “because of one case. We have never had a problem. There has never been an issue until the Mkhwanazi case,” he said.
Nciza wrote to Mashazi objecting to the change, saying it was an “ex post facto justification” for how Mkhwanazi’s disciplinary tribunal was quashed. Less than three weeks later, he was suspended.
Kelebogile Thepa was the EMPD spokesperson to whom Wicks had sent the query. On Friday she testified that in October 2023 the office of the city manager instructed that all outbound communication would be centralised in Mashazi’s office.
The way Wicks’ query was handled was “standard practice … we get an inquiry, we get a deadline, we respond with truth [and] transparency,” said Thepa. But when she asked why there had been a change, she was told “Mashazi was not impressed by the work of the media unit and its handling of the Mkhwanazi issue”.
[It used to be a saying of Mashazi’s that] ‘all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others’... She would say it laughing. I never understood then, but I know now and I know better
— Kelebogile Thepa, EMPD spokesperson
Then, in July 2024, the EMPD’s media unit was disbanded “with immediate effect” by Mkhwanazi and Thepa was redeployed. She later found out that, in fact, the unit was not disbanded. Her team of eight liaison officers continued to do media work. “At this point, I realised that the plan was just to move me out of the media unit.”
All the EMPD witnesses described how they had been victimised and driven from their posts.
Police chief Jabulani Mapiyeye said he was suspended on “trumped up” charges. Spies said he took early retirement because of “victimisation and ostracisation”.
Nciza said he was suspended, and then dismissed, on the grounds that he did not have a qualification — which he did have and which the municipality knew he had. When he was served with notices related to his suspension and dismissal the documents were delivered to his home by several marked police cars, sirens on, and as many as six to eight officers. “It was intended to humiliate me and my family and to cast aspersions on my person, my dignity and my character.”
Thepa broke down twice in her evidence, describing two attacks at gunpoint — both times the assailants told her that she was “a problem at work”.
It used to be a saying of Mashazi’s that “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”, she said. “She would say it laughing. I never understood then, but I know now and I know better.”
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