For five agonising years, Lindelwa Mfazi was told her late husband, Lt-Gen Sindile Mfazi, was just another casualty of the Covid pandemic. But behind the official police statements lay a darker truth she carried in her heart: her husband, the deputy national commissioner for crime detection, had been poisoned.
Now, after the explosive reclassification of his death from an inquest to a formal murder investigation, Lindelwa is speaking out. In a deeply moving tribute and rebuke, she painted for the Sunday Times a portrait this week of a fearless liberation hero while laying bare her struggle with a police service she accuses of abandoning her family in their darkest hour.
“Pitso was a man of unwavering resolve, principled, ethical and stubbornly committed to integrity and honour,” Lindelwa said. “He was forthright in his views, fearless in speaking truth, hated lies and corruption with passion and never hesitated to tell it as it was, even if it meant confronting others directly.”
She vividly recalled a tense encounter in December 2020, involving a high-ranking minister who had served alongside Mfazi in MK — the ANC’s military wing during apartheid — in Angola. Mfazi During the exchange, openly challenged the minister over political meddling in the police.
“I was in the car when this minister called, and Pitso was very firm with the minister after he had asked for certain documents from him,” she said. “He told the minister that he reports to the Nascom [national police commissioner] and that the minister should not make it a habit to interfere in police business. I could also tell this was a commander [Pitso] speaking to his junior from MK.”
Lindelwa told the Sunday Times that on July 8 2021, the day her husband would draw his final breath, she and a relative were en route to Pretoria from East London at the general’s request. He had called earlier that morning. “He kept insisting that I must come see him; he needed me.”
Things changed months before his death. He told me we couldn’t move to Pretoria because there were people after him ... This is when he and his one driver started carrying R5 rifles in the car
— Lindelwa 'Malindi' Mfazi
Earlier that day, Pitso had been rushed to hospital by his security detail after a routine session of steaming left him struggling for air, but he was later discharged.
On her arrival at their Pretoria residence, the premises were swarming with police. They told Lindelwa her husband was dead, but that she couldn’t see his body because he had died of Covid. She insisted on seeing him.
“When I went around the bed, I saw blood on the pillow, in his nose and stains of blood on the walls. Those stains of blood raised my suspicions because it looked like there was also a fight.” Malindi said.
She recounted that the household, including their two sons, had finalised preparations to relocate to Pretoria to reunite with the general. “But things changed months before his death. He told me we couldn’t move to Pretoria because there were people after him ... This is when he and his one driver started carrying R5 rifles in the car.”
A former MK commander who trained in India, served in Angola and once provided security for Chris Hani, Mfazi had dedicated his life to South Africa. Yet his relentless pursuit of state capture operations and police corruption made him a prime target.
For Lindelwa, the realisation of how he died haunts her. “Pitso was highly reliable, with a sharp analytical mind that allowed him to read situations and people with remarkable clarity,” she said. [It Something that is] still puzzling us is how those who poisoned him got to be so close to him undetected.”
While his work often took him away, Mfazi had promised his family that his retirement — less than two years away when he died — would bring them back together. Instead, his sudden death shattered their world.
“He was my protector and my pillar of strength, a man who made our family feel safe and cherished,” Malindi said. When he passed, he left a void that can never be filled.”
Adding to the trauma of her husband’s assassination has been the agonising five-year delay in the investigation and a complete lack of empathy from the South African Police Service (SAPS).
The pain and suffering we have carried without any meaningful support from SAPS during these extremely difficult years is something we will never forget
— Lindelwa 'Malindi' Mfazi
“The five-year delay ...in this matter has been deeply disturbing and has prolonged our suffering immeasurably,” Lindelwa said. “The pain and suffering we have carried without any meaningful support from SAPS ...during these extremely difficult years is something we will never forget. This prolonged ordeal has severely affected my mental health and, more importantly, our son’s wellbeing.”
Ten days after his burial on July 15 2021, Mfazi’s remains were exhumed. The exhumation was on the insistence of Lindelwa, who remains convinced that a more sinister cause than the global pandemic was responsible for his death.
Ten days after his burial on July 15 2021, Mfazi’s remains were exhumed. The exhumation was on the insistence of Lindelwa.
“I called the national commissioner general [Khehla] Sitole and told him ... I wanted my husband’s body exhumed. He supported me in that, and I was assisted also by Pitso’s colleagues who were close to him,” she said.
After the exhumation an inquest was to be held, but this year law the investigation was officially reclassified as a murder case. Said Lindelwa: “While we welcome the reclassification ... of the case from an inquest to a murder investigation, we sincerely hope we will not have to endure another five years before arrests are made.”
Her hope for justice does not lie in the police leadership but in the undeniable paper trail her husband left behind in his official pocketbook and personal diary.
“My confidence that this investigation will finally be concluded does not stem from trust in the system but from the strength of the evidence contained in the pocketbook and diary, which should make the investigators’ work significantly easier,” Lindelwa said.
The police have said that their investigations are at a sensitive and critical stage. They have conducted search and seizure operations at various addresses, but no arrests have been made. They would not comment on Lindelwa’s claim of a lack of police support.
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