Mchunu claims he was unaware that Ramaphosa was going to make him Police Minister

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on Thursday said he was not aware that he would be appointed as the portfolio head for the police ministry after the 2024 national and general elections.

Speaking during his first day of testimony at the parliamentary inquiry Mchunu said he had no idea he was to be moved from the Department of Water and Sanitation until he was called to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s official residence.

“I did not know I will be a minister at all and that I would be appointed as Minister of Police,” he said.

Mchunu’s appearance to the inquiry followed allegations made by KZN Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at an explosive press July conference when he made allegations implicating Mchunu and other senior officials of political interference and working with criminal syndicates.

He fingered the minister in interfering in operational matters when he issued a directive to disband the Political Killings Task Team in December 2024.

In his testimony, Mchunu said he had welcomed and accepted his appointment to the huge portfolio and the responsibility that came with it, in a country infested with crime.

 “I did not have a lot to think about because I was busy with this and that until I got time to start thinking about what it means and how to go about playing my role as the minister.”

Mchunu stated that he did not discuss his pending appointment at the time with Ramaphosa or anyone else.

“The president is the only person who appoints and instructs you be called. The first word comes from him. It came from him, no one else,” he said when responding to chief evidence leader, Advocate Norman Arendse, SC.

Mkhwanazi had told the inquiry that Mchunu’s chief of staff Cedrick Nkabinde had approached him enquire what the chief of staff job for the police ministry entailed as Mchunu wanted to appoint him before he was announced at the head of the police ministry. Mkhwanazi said this was while Mchunu was Minister of Water and Sanitation.

In his testimony, Mchunu said that after he was sworn-in, he had sought an orientation meeting with police leadership and held “meet and greet sessions”.

He told the inquiry that during the orientation meeting, Mkhwanazi clarified during the presentations that the PKTT was not a formal unit but a task team.

“He said the intention of the PKTT was to evolve it into a dedicated murder and robbery unit.”

Mchunu said that he was made aware of a work study undertaken and signed in 2019 by Masemola’s predecessor general Khehla Sitole.

The work study had called for the disbandment of the task team and to resuscitate all special units, including the murder and robbery unit before he came to the department.

“My (role) was to give effect to the work study outcomes.”

He said he got a lot of support from those he interacted with, including Masemola and his deputies, and had met former minister Bheki Cele, who gave him a handover report.

Mchunu told the inquiry that during the orientation and discussion with police top brass, he and his deputies were asking questions and were “able to take decisions, where we felt we needed to test our ideas as the ministry.”

While he admitted that their orientation was superficial at the beginning, Mchunu said they had a second round of interactions, much more intense discussions on task teams and units, including the PKTT.

“It went on and on as we moved... until this year,” he said.

“We would discuss other task teams or other units much more than we had at beginning. That is why at those meetings we were able to have an opinion, as the ministry, to say this is how we think or believe we should move forward with the task teams, including the PKTT.”

Arendse noted that Deputy Police Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya had mentioned that there had been a discussion on the PKTT in November, and Masemola had claimed there was no discussion prior to the directive Mchunu issued on 31 December 2024.

Mchunu said  there was one meeting that took place on November 22 and another where he and Masemola had made statements at both meetings.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za