Madlanga Commission: Mkhwanazi denies having hand in abduction of colleague

The suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief, Julius Mkhwanazi, has denied allegations that he played any part in the kidnapping of a fellow officer.

Last November, EMPD spokesperson Kelebogile Thepa testified about an incident where she was kidnapped by three men at gunpoint and later assaulted.

Thepa told the commission the incident came after Mkhwanazi told her he was unhappy with how she answered media queries regarding the Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala blue light incident.

In 2022, Mkhwanazi entered the EMPD into an irregular memorandum of understanding with Matlala’s security company, which allowed for some of the businessman’s cars to be fitted with blue lights.

Mkhwanazi spent Tuesday at the witness stand denying the allegations against him.

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On allegations that he promoted his friends at the EMPD, Mkhwanazi said he didn’t act alone in selecting officers for promotion and those promotions were deserved.

He also denied running a rogue, parallel unit within the EMPD that allegedly operated outside the department’s jurisdiction.

Mkhwanazi said officers operating outside municipal boundaries had been a common course for many years in the EMPD.

Finally, Mkhwanazi also denied having anything to do with his colleague’s kidnapping.

“I don’t plan to do any kidnappings, I am a police officer, I can’t do that, especially to my colleague, my junior, I don’t do that. Everything she came to testify about me is not true.”

Mkhwanazi will return to the commission for cross-examination on Wednesday.