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Today, July 6, is exactly a year since KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi dropped the bombshell about criminality infiltrating the police and judicial system.
His claims led to the establishment of the Madlanga Commission, which exposed further scandals that led to suspensions, resignations and possible death.
2025
July 6: Mkhwanazi holds an impromptu media briefing where he alleges that senior police officers are working in cahoots with criminal cartels. He implicates the then police minister Senzo Mchunu and deputy police commissioner Gen Shadrack Sibiya for colluding with cartels to defeat the justice system. Other implicated figures were Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala, who would later become a central figure.
July 13: President Cyril Ramaphosa announces the establishment of the Madlanga Commission chaired by retired judge justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga as a body that would investigate Mkhwanazi’s allegations. The president also places Mchunu on suspension.
July 23: The National Assembly agreed to establish an ad-hoc committee to also probe Mkhwanazi’s claims.
August 14 and 22: The ad-hoc committee sat in parliament to discuss terms of reference for their inquiry.
September 14: Gen Sibiya was placed on immediate suspension after he tried to challenge his suspension through a court application at the high court in Pretoria.
September 11: Madlanga Commission holds its first sitting in Pretoria where Mkhwanazi reiterated the allegations he made during the July 6 briefing. Mkhwanazi relayed to the commission how Matlala and other alleged criminals the police were investigating had close ties with senior police officials and had secured a multimillion-rand tender with the South African Police Services (SAPS).
October 7: The ad hoc committee officially begins public hearings in Parliament and the 11-member body is chaired by Soviet Lekganyane. Their first witness is Mkhwanazi who testifies over several days, detailing his concerns about the allegedly unlawful disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) and interference in police matters.
November 3: Self-proclaimed police informant Brown Mogotsi survives an alleged assassination. The shooting happens few days before the date he was subpoenaed to appear at the Madlanga Commission. Mogotsi would later be arrested for allegedly staging the shooting.
November 6: Suspended chief of Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) Jabulani Mapiyeye testifies at the Madlanga Commission about how his subordinate, Julius Mkhwanazi, entered into a fraudulent memorandum with Matlala’s company on behalf of the city. This deal saw the city fitting blue lights to Matlala’s fleet. Mapiyeye further alleges that Mkhwanazi was protected by then city manager Imogen Mashazi working with head of legal Kemi Behari and head of HR Linda Gxasheka.
November 11: The city manager Kagiso Lerutla places Mkhwanazi on immediate suspension following allegations of his links with Matlala and the irregular appointment of 55 employees that he made.
November 14: A witness, known only as witness D, testifies at the commission and implicates Julius Mkhwanazi in the cover-up of a murder of a suspect who was tortured to death by EMPD officials and SAPS members during interrogation in 2021.
December 5: Witness D, who was subsequently identified as Marius van der Merwe, was shot and killed in December in front of his family as he was opening his gate.
December 12-13: Ekurhuleni head of HR Linda Gxasheka and head of legal Kemi Behari were suspended following allegations that they protected the suspended Mkhwanazi.
December 16: The commission delivered its first interim report to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the report was not made public.
2026
January 30: President Ramaphosa revealed that according to the Madlanga Commission, 14 names had been referred for criminal investigations. They are Julius Mkhwanazi, Adrian McKenzie, Bafana Twala, Kesha-Lee Stals, Imogen Mashazi, Linda Gxasheka, Kemi Behari, Chris Steyn, Etienne van der Walt, Lesetja Senona, Richard Shibiri, Mbangwa Nkhwashu, Fannie Nkosi and Rachel Matjeng.
A police investigation unit was also put together to investigate the allegations emerging from the Madlanga commission. The report also suggests that police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola should establish a task team that will investigate the allegations emerging from the commission.
February 5 and 6: SAPS Section Head for Quality Management Brig Rachel Matjeng testifies at the Madlanga Commission and claims to have been the end user of Matlala’s services. She also claims to have been in an on-and-off romantic relationship with Matlala and that the gifts and money she got from Matlala were girlfriend allowances.
February 13: The police investigating team set up for for the commission makes its first arrest, Brig Johannes Mkhabela, who was nabbed for attempting to bribe a police officer.
March 9: Ramaphosa extends the deadline for the Madlanga Commission seven days before the initial deadline he had given the commission. He extends it to August 2026.
March 14: A former police special task force member and sniper, Matipandile Sotheni, is arrested for the murder of Witness D.
March 16: An alleged middleman between Sibiya and the criminal network, Sgt Fannie Nkosi, appears at the Madlanga commission. His phone reveals that he was in conversations about attempts of tender manipulation with senior officials in Tshwane including MMC Kholofelo Morodi, CFO Gareth Mnisi and Tshwane metro police senior Umashi Dhlamini.
March 19: MMC Morodi was suspended after her name came up at the commission for allegedly leaking tender documents to Sgt Fannie Nkosi.
March 24: Twelve senior police officers are arrested for allegedly assisting Matlala obtain the SAPS tender. Most of them were part of the bid evaluation committee and were arrested for fraud and money laundering. They are Maj-Gen Busisiwe Precious Temba, Brig Kirsty Jonker, Brig Petunia Reabetsoe Lenono (retired), Brig Onica Ofentse Tlhoale, Brig Rachel Matjeng, Brig Alpheus Thembinkosi Ngema, Brig Patrick Nethengwe, Col Tumisho Nehemiah Maleka, Col Nonjabulo Nomfundo Mngadi, Col Anton Paulsen, Col Natsenge Johannes Monyai and Capt Brian Cartwright.
March 27: Tshwane CFO Gareth Mnisi is suspended following the allegations that rose from the commission, that he was sharing details and plotting to manipulate a tender with Sgt Fannie Nkosi.
April 3: Sgt Fannie Nkosi was arrested for theft, defeating the ends of justice, unlawful possession of ammunition and explosives.
April 18 and 19: Julius Mkhwanazi and Kagiso Lerutla, the Ekurhuleni municipal manager, were arrested for impersonation and defeating the ends of justice. They were arrested by the team which is investigating allegations emerging from the commission.
April 21: Police commissioner Masemola appears before the Pretoria magistrates court through a summons for the contravention of Public Funds Management Act linked to Matlala’s tender. The matter was then postponed to a date which he would appear with Matlala and 12 other officials that were arrested earlier.
May 10: Crime intelligence boss Feroz Khan and the Gauteng head of Hawks Maj-Gen Ebrahim Kadwa were arrested by Gauteng counter crime intelligence for dealing with precious stones, corruption and dealing in drugs. Khan had previously been implicated in a 2021 drug bust but was later cleared by Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during a disciplinary hearing.
May 29: The Madlanga commission delivered its second report to President Ramaphosa.
June 9: Khan asks the court to interdict the commission from downloading information from his phone. In the application, EFF leader Julius Malema is implicated for allegedly shielding Khan from misconduct.
June 25: Matlala applies for his matter to be separated from that of the 12 senior SAPS officials arrested for his tender. This paves the way for his plea and sentence agreement and in turn he intends to turn state witness.
June 26: KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Gen Lesetja Senona, an associate of Matlala, resigns. Senona is being investigated for his role in the 2021 theft of 541kg of cocaine, worth an estimated R200m, which was stolen from the Hawks’ offices in what appears to be an inside job.
June 28: Khan survives a shooting incident three days before the date that was set for him to appear before the Madlanga Commission.
June 30: Matjeng is dismissed from the SAPS for dishonesty, money laundering and receiving gratification from Matlala.
July 1: The magistrate rejects the eight-year sentence that the state offered Matlala in a plea and sentence agreement with the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption in relation to fraud and corruption linked to the SAPS tender. The court instead proposes 12 years direct imprisonment. The matter has been postponed to July 13.
July 2: Madlanga subpoenas Matlala to appear before the commission on July 7.
