‘There’s a plan to take my life’: The secrets Lt-Gen Mfazi took to his grave

Lt-Gen Sindile “Pitso” Mfazi knew he was a hunted man.

On December 10 2020, at 18.33, the deputy national commissioner for crime detection meticulously noted in his diary a chilling “intel call” from an unregistered number. The caller, claiming to be from the anti-gang unit, warned Mfazi of an active plot to assassinate him.

Seven months later he was dead, and the South African Police Service (SAPS) was quick to conclude he had died from Covid-19 complications.

His widow, Lindelwa “Malindi” Mfazi, never believed it. She insisted he had been murdered and that SAPS members were implicated in a cover-up.

Just 10 days after Mfazi’s burial, Lindelwa had the body exhumed after talking to national police commissioner Khehla Sitole, and toxicology tests established the presence of a poisonous substance.

In February, evidence presented by former intelligence analyst Philasande Dotyeni to parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations made in 2025 by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, alerted MPs to the poisoning and the fact that no investigation had followed.

That evidence has now prompted the service to launch a murder investigation into one of the most serious allegations of senior police involvement in criminal activity.

The Sunday Times has obtained exclusive access to Mfazi’s diary and official SAPS pocketbook, both of which shed new light on his death. At the time, SAPS quickly concluded it was Covid-related, but his widow insisted he had been poisoned.

Although investigators searched his house after his death, they overlooked the diary and pocketbook in his office.

Lindelwa told the Sunday Times about her quest to secure justice for her husband, a former Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) soldier who was prepared to give his life for freedom and who, she believes, may have died defending that freedom.

Explosive primary documents — including copies of Mfazi’s personal diary, his official SAPS pocketbook and sworn affidavits from Dotyeni — suggest he he deputy national commissioner for crime detection was fighting a lonely, multifront battle against systemic state capture. Taken together, the documents map an interconnected web of high-stakes investigations that threaten to implicate some of the most powerful figures in South Africa.

At the heart of Mfazi’s final investigations was the highly sensitive crime intelligence secret services account — a multimillion-rand covert fund historically vulnerable to looting.

A pocketbook entry on November 18 2020 said Mfazi had a meeting with the office of the inspector-general of intelligence (OIGI). He noted with concern that the financial documents supplied by crime intelligence covered only the previous financial year, leaving a critical gap for the 2020/21 period.

After the meeting, Mfazi recorded an instruction to “compile a portfolio of evidence regarding the conduct of the divisional commissioner of crime intelligence”.

A protected disclosure submitted to parliament in March 2026 by Dotyeni reveals that Mfazi was quietly probing the fallout of the February 2020 burglary at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm

The relationship between the two generals had become deeply strained. A damaged handwritten note dated September 19 2020, records Mfazi discovering that a senior police officer had recorded a 38-minute telephone conversation between them. Mfazi wrote: “I want to know from Lt-Gen [name withheld] as to what informed him to record ... Who gave him the authority?”

In this battle over the secret services account arises the most explosive allegation emerges.

A protected disclosure submitted to parliament in March 2026 by Dotyeni reveals that Mfazi was quietly probing the fallout of the February 2020 burglary at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm.

Crucially, Mfazi was not investigating the theft of the foreign currency itself. According to the disclosure, his inquiry focused on allegations that crime intelligence funds and state resources were unlawfully diverted to run an off-book covert operation to track the thieves and contain the political fallout.

Because the operation was allegedly run without a registered crime administration system (CAS) docket, it would have fallen outside lawful SAPS procedures. The 2020/21 secret services account records — which Mfazi flagged as “missing” during his OIGI audit — were, according to Dotyeni the very files needed to prove the unlawful expenditure.

Mfazi’s pocketbook also exposes the scale of alleged corruption during the pandemic. On December 15 2020 he chaired an internal audit meeting reviewing emergency Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement.

He documented a procurement universe of R1.6bn, flagging systemic governance failures — including verbal approvals without written authorisation, payments processed without stock controls and an estimated R35m in direct irregular losses.

Mfazi noted that the audit report had been leaked and that a criminal case was opened. Crucially, he recorded that an internal supply chain contact had “received threats” linked to the audit. Mfazi immediately requested a threat assessment from deputy national commissioner Francinah Vuma.

For years, SAPS had been locked in a catastrophic legal battle with Forensic Data Analysts (FDA), a private consortium run by former police officer Keith Keating. FDA operated the property control and exhibit management (PCEM) system and the firearm permit system (FPS) — the backbone of forensic evidence management and firearm licensing in South Africa.

In a sworn 2018 affidavit, Mfazi led the state’s case, arguing that the systems had been using SAPS operational knowledge and public funds, meaning the intellectual property belonged to the state. When SAPS stopped paying what it regarded as irregular annual licensing fees, FDA switched the systems off, effectively holding police evidence hostage.

Mfazi’s diary entries from March and April 2019 show him aggressively pursuing a litigation strategy to regain control of the systems. On March 31 2019, he wrote: “Signed proposal & government order. Your appeal papers will be signed today and served tomorrow to FDA. PCEM. FPS. There were some irregularities that need to be reported.”

Sworn statements by analyst Litisha Richardson supported Mfazi’s position, alleging that SAPS had been trapped by “unending maintenance and support contracts” designed to rob the state.

Richardson stated under oath: “I reiterate that the SAPS intellectual property had been used without official permission and authority, to develop software for which the SAPS paid for and then it was sold back to the SAPS with unending maintenance, support and redevelopment contracts.”

However, SAPS lost the high court case and is now seeking relief in the Supreme Court of Appeal, with the police facing a liability of more than R1bn to FDA.

In his official pocketbook, Mfazi recorded a detailed call log dated November 22 2020, in which he meticulously captured his efforts to trace the docket relating to the circumstances of the killing of Western Cape senior detective Lt-Col Charl Kinnear.

“I called MAS [management advisory services division] Gen Lincoln enquiring about the docket on Kinnear. All he said [was] he does not know the whereabouts of this docket. He said he was told that this docket is with a certain Gen Pretorius. I asked him that can I call MAS Gen Veary. He agreed.”

Mfazi then recorded: “I called Jeremy Veary and asked him about the status of the case of the attempted grenade attack of Lt-Col Kinnear. He told me that he is not sure, he will check the docket ...”

On December 10 2020 at 18:33 Mfazi’s pocketbook records an “intel call” from an unregistered number.

The caller, claiming to be from the anti-gang unit, warned Mfazi of an active plot to assassinate him. The caller specifically named senior police officers as being involved in the conspiracy.

Mfazi documented the warning in detail with the meticulous precision of a trained intelligence officer. He reported the threat, but no effective protection was provided.

Dotyeni’s parliamentary disclosure in February confirmed the that subsequent toxicology findings and alerted MPs to the lack of action from the SAPS.

It was not just one bad actor but an elaborate cover-up. Internal anticorruption mechanisms must be strengthened

—  Lizette Lancaster, Institute of Security Studies researcher

Lindelwa told the Sunday Times this week: “I was already suspicious from the day they said he died from Covid. I told myself that Pitso was killed, there was foul play, but no-one wanted to listen. But I was not going to fail him because 10 days after his burial his body was exhumed and a postmortem done. It was found that indeed he was murdered.” Lindelwa told the Sunday Times this week.

According to Lindelwa, the case languished almost five years because of a lack of investigative urgency from the police service.

Institute of Security Studies (ISS) researcher Lizette Lancaster said: “What is most alarming in the Lt-Gen Mfazi matter is that files were allegedly removed from his home while his body was still upstairs, an inquest docket that vanished into headquarters, and a cause of death recorded as Covid-19. for five years. until his family forced an exhumation.

“This means that it was not just one bad actor but an elaborate cover-up. Internal anticorruption mechanisms must be strengthened, and the ISS has made recommendations on how to do this.

The killing of police officers who investigate corruption and organised crime demonstrates that the greatest threat to an honest detective could come from within their own organisation, she said.

“Critically, the country requires genuinely independent, well-resourced and physically protected investigative bodies. This will apply to current structures such as Idac [the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption] and Ipid [the Independent Police Investigative Directorate].”

Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe confirmed the murder investigation was prompted by Lindelwa approaching Sitole with allegations her husband was murdered.

She said Mfazi’s body was exhumed in the same month and subjected to toxicology tests, which identified a poisonous substance.

“The investigation which has now started is to establish whether the poison was accidentally ingested or whether there was a motive to murder him,” Mathe said.

She said investigators had since established the substance was not accidentally ingested and the matter was being treated as murder.

“The investigation is at a very sensitive and critical stage.

“There were various J51 search-and-seizure warrants at various addresses that were conducted, but no arrests have been made. The team is confident that they are on the right track.”