Madlanga Commission: Some dockets taken from KZN Political Killings Task Team mishandled - Mkhwanazi

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that some of the 121 dockets taken from the provincial political killings task team and transferred to detectives at the head office were mishandled.

Mkhwanazi alleges five of those dockets were ready for arrests following prosecution-led investigations, yet no action was taken by the head office.

At an explosive media briefing two months ago, Mkhwanazi revealed that these dockets were improperly moved from the political killings task team to the office of the suspended deputy national commissioner for crime detection, Shadrack Sibiya.

The dockets lie at the heart of Mkhwanazi’s claims of police corruption and political interference in the work of the KZN political killings unit.

ALSO READ:

- Madlanga Commission: Questions over who drafted letter to disband political killings task team arise

- Madlanga Commission set to be classified into 3 phases

- Mkhwanazi believes Mchunu was advised to disband political killings task team

He has told the commission on Thursday that the least the investigators at the head office could have done was to carry out the five arrests.

“What is more troubling about this is that the head office detective services had conducted some inspection on these dockets. In their inspection, they would have seen that investigations are complete, and suspects should be arrested. The least they could have done is to take the dockets and arrest those suspects.”

Mkhwanazi said he has no idea why the arrests were never carried out.

“As a police officer who knows about criminal investigation, once a case docket has got an instruction from the court to arrest a suspect, then such an instruction must be carried out with speed. For the period when these arrests were handed over to the head office, there were five dockets that had instructions for arrest. Those arrests were not affected.”

JOIN US ON WHATSAPP

Stay ahead of the story: Join our WhatsApp channel today.

Want breaking news at your fingertips, the moment it happens? Our WhatsApp Channel is the fastest way to stay connected with the stories that matter most.

From breaking news alerts to exclusive stories, analysis and must-read features - you’ll get it all directly on your phone.

Joining is simple.

Just click Follow on our WhatsApp Channel and stay informed.