By Everson Luhanga
- Mchunu said whistleblowers raised concerns about the task team’s management and abuse, but those claims were not in his shutdown letter.
- He admitted under oath that he never told the national police commissioner about scrapping the unit, breaking official protocol.
Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu was grilled at the Madlanga Commission in Pretoria on Thursday, 5 December, over his decision to disband the Political Killings Task Team.
Before taking questions, Mchunu refused to speak until his lawyers arrived. But the commission told him it would not delay the session for anyone.
The task team was created to investigate political murders, but Mchunu shut it down on 31 December 2024 — and never informed the national police commissioner.
He claimed the team was temporary and never meant to run for six years. He said it was costly, unstructured, and should have been absorbed into the police.
Mchunu also told the commission that whistleblowers and a human rights activist warned him about poor management, a loss of police control, and possible rights violations.
But when asked why those concerns were not in his shutdown letter, or who exactly raised them, Mchunu struggled to answer.
He insisted the task team was never meant to deal with organised crime, only political killings.
Commissioners pushed back, asking why other long-running task teams in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal were still operating.
Mchunu argued that those teams supported specialised police units, which he said was not the case with the Political Killings Task Team.
He now faces growing criticism that shutting down the unit may have helped protect powerful people involved in political violence.
Pictured above: Senzo Mchun
Image source: Supplied
