JUSTICE MALALA | President Ramaphosa must appear at the Madlanga Commission

President Cyril Ramaphosa must volunteer to appear before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. He must do so to clear his name and that of his administration or live with the knowledge that most South Africans believe the corruption in the country stretches right up into his office. 

The real meaning of some controversial issues and facts raised by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and presented to the Madlanga Commission are now becoming devastatingly, frighteningly, clear. The implications for South Africa could be far-reaching: did the president of the republic agree with his police minister that a successful unit of the police be shut down for no logical reason except to protect crime bosses and their cartels? 

Testimony and evidence presented at the Madlanga Commission makes it clear that the instruction by suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu to bump off the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) was highly unusual, unlawful and beyond his mandate and powers. Most important of all, it was illogical: in a crime-riddled country such as South Africa, why shut down a unit that by all accounts seemed to be doing more than most to deal with the scourge of political assassinations and related crimes? 

Indeed, why was there such urgency, vehemence and fury on Mchunu’s part for this unit to be shut down “now, now, now”? National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola detailed how Mchunu had sent a letter on December 31 2024 (while citizens were celebrating the arrival of a bright new year) demanding the closure of the unit and the immediate transfer of its cases to no one. He was, essentially, quashing those investigations. The charge for this in police terms is “defeating the ends of justice”. Mchunu claimed the PKTT was “not adding any value to policing”. 

Instead of shutting down the units, Masemola dragged his feet and did nothing. Good for him. 

If Ramaphosa does not appear then we are in uncharted territory. We are in a place where South Africa will be termed a mafia state run by criminal cartels

Then in a meeting in March, Mchunu learnt that two people arrested for a random crime had been linked by the PKTT’s detective work to the killing of an ANC councillor in Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal, on February 4 2025. Masemola says that Mchunu got “visibly angry” at hearing the news that the PKTT was still investigating and arresting criminals. 

“It was the first time in my career to see a minister angry that the police have done a good job … What surprised me is exactly that — how would you be angry when the police do what they are supposed to do?” Masemola testified. 

It was in this meeting that Mchunu told Masemola that Ramaphosa agreed with him that the PKTT be disbanded. This was news to Masemola. Masemola had, in February, met Ramaphosa and asked him why he wanted the successful unit disbanded. He testified that the president “was quite surprised … that this team was being disbanded and no reason given”. 

This is the crux of the matter: Mchunu allegedly told Masemola that Ramaphosa agreed with him that the PKTT must be disbanded. Masemola says the president was surprised that it was being disbanded. 

This contradiction cannot stand. It must be cleared up and its truthfulness — or not — be presented to the nation. Ramaphosa must be called to testify before the Madlanga Commission. If he is not called, then he must petition the commissioners to call him in so he can clear his name or put what facts are at his disposal to this. 

If Ramaphosa does not appear then we are in uncharted territory. We are in a place where South Africa will be termed a mafia state run by criminal cartels. Consider again the facts that will be left hanging without Ramaphosa’s rebuttal: criminal cartels feeding off the state wanted a key police unit to be shut down to ensure their continued looting. The unit was so successful that Ramaphosa himself asked for it to be deployed to the University of Fort Hare where crime-fighting university officials including the principal had been murdered or threatened with assassination.

The police minister seemingly worked feverishly to achieve the criminals’ objective. The country therefore needs to know, clearly and forensically, that the president is not a part of this criminal cartel or is not being manipulated by this dark money directly or through his ministers. 

The country has lost faith in the commissions of inquiry, task teams, “bomb squads”, and the many other instruments that Ramaphosa has deployed to run the country. The Madlanga Commission is the last of these instruments that still has some credibility. 

Ramaphosa’s testimony to it will be crucial for the credibility of the country, nationally and globally. It will determine whether we have a story of renewal to tell, despite everything, or we are just a mafia state where the rot goes all the way up into the most powerful office in the land.