By Dylan Bettencourt
- Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo says the Political Killings Task Team was dismantled because a cartel thought it was investigating them.
- Khumalo testified that the team had stopped high-profile killings but criminals inside the police and politics worked to destroy it.
When a crime cartel made a mistake, whole communities paid the price.
On Monday, Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo told the Madlanga Commission that the Political Killings Task Team was shut down because a cartel thought it was on their trail. It wasn’t.
The team had solved big cases, from the murder of ANC councillor Sindiso Magaqa to assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal and Fort Hare investigations. But instead of getting support, Khumalo says insiders moved to break it apart.
The WhatsApp chats behind these claims show something worse: criminals have already captured the police. Khumalo says SAPS and EMPD officers at the highest level were leaking secrets and protecting businesspeople facing serious charges.
Money, he says, flowed from alleged cartel boss Vusimuzi Matlala to North West commander Brown Mogotsi and others. Businessman Suleiman Carrim and investigator Calvin Rafadi were also accused of pocketing cash for sensitive police information.
That puts the spotlight on the North West, Mogotsi’s power base and Carrim’s political home. It’s where politics and cartels appear to meet.
Khumalo added that cartels are using private security companies as a front to get firearms, legally on paper, but fuelling violence in reality.
The “Big Five” cartel, he said, runs like a business: drug money as the main trade, quick hits from cash-in-transit robberies and ATMs, and killings to settle scores.
Khumalo himself has faced arrest this year, charges he says were meant to silence him after he tried to clean up Crime Intelligence.
The commission says notices will go out to all implicated, giving them a chance to respond.
Pictured above: Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo testifies at the Madlanga Commission in Pretoria on 29 September 2025.
Image source: @CrimeWatch_RSA
