WATCH | Mchunu: ‘I’m no corrupt minister’ — blames SAPS for PKTT chaos

Senzo Mchunu

Pretoria – Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has told the Madlanga Commission that the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) should have been disbanded years ago, insisting it was created as a temporary structure that was never meant to exist beyond six months.

Mchunu made a short appearance before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Tuesday.

He said a 2019 work study signed by former police commissioner Khehla Sitole recommended dissolving the PKTT and absorbing its functions into the murder and robbery unit, but the study was never implemented.

A 2024 investigation later found that several task teams – including the PKTT – continued operating without proper monitoring, coordination or budget accountability.

According to Mchunu, this raised serious concerns about irregular expenditure.

Mchunu maintained that National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola supported implementing the work study but delayed signing off on it for a full year, partly due to union-related issues.

The study was only approved on 5 June 2025.

Mchunu argued that had Masemola signed earlier, “the PKTT would likely have been shut down then”.

The minister is currently on special leave and is accused of disbanding the PKTT to obstruct a crime-syndicate investigation — a claim he denied.

He said he had ordered Masemola in a letter dated 31 December 2024 to shut down the PKTT “immediately”, explaining he had acted due to declining operational value, inefficient budgeting and the need to reallocate resources.

Mchunu stressed that throughout his political career, he had never faced corruption allegations.

“This is the first time, I get accused of such as alleged particularly on the 6th of July,” he told the commission, referring to claims made by KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

He reiterated that he had no role in operational policing: “As minister, I don’t necessarily direct, approve or participate in operational policing activities,” adding that allegations he influenced arrests or raids were “incorrect”.

He testified that Masemola informed him and his deputies that the PKTT “was never a formal unit, but an interim task team”, originally established in 2018 to tackle political killings in KwaZulu-Natal.

It was always a “special project” outside the permanent police structure.

“It was always understood that it was interim in nature,” Mchunu said, “There’s no project in government that runs indefinitely.” He emphasised the team was intended to run for only six months, “not six years”.

The PKTT has cost the government R435 million to date. After receiving an extension in 2021 during Covid-19, it continued without formal approval after 2022, which Mchunu said contributed to irregular expenditure.

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