Madlanga Commission: Masemola admits to pressure to disband political killings task team

National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has admitted that he didn’t explicitly refuse the instruction to disband the political killings task team due to the immense pressure from Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.

Testifying at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Monday, Masemola clarified that he wasn’t in support of Mchunu’s directive to disband the unit with immediate effect.

It’s alleged that Mchunu may have sought to dissolve the unit to protect criminal syndicates that were being investigated by the task team.

When asked why he didn’t explicitly challenge the minister’s attempt to disband the task team, this was Masemola’s response.

Justice Madlanga:  "You say the instruction was unlawful. So why obey it if you’ve told us that you would not obey an unlawful instruction?"

Masemola: "The position that we find ourselves as government officials, we go through things. If you were in my position and this minister is insistent, I ended saying: 'If we do it your way, I will not accept, so let’s rather do it my way.'"

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