EMPD’s Julius Mkhwanazi arrested

EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi testifies before the Madlanga commission at Brigitte Mabandla Judicial College in Pretoria on 3 December 2025. Picture: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu Suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi has been arrested. When contacted byThe Citizen, national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe confirmed that a 50-year-old senior municipal official had been arrested for fraud, corruption and defeating and/or obstructing the ends of justice.

It is understood that Mkhwanazi was arrested at his home in Gauteng on Saturday morning by the police’s Madlanga Commission Task Team. “These arrests emanate from an ongoing investigation into corruption within the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD),” the police said of the arrest. Investigators are still searching for other suspects linked to the case.

Mkhwanazi is expected to appear before the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 20 April 2026. He has beenimplicated in the death of Emmanuel Mbense in 2022and accused of both instructing that Mbense’s body be dumped and concealing the alleged involvement of EMPD officers Aiden McKenzie, Kershia-Leigh Stols and Bafana Twala. He has denied the claims and distanced himself from the murder.

[paywall]

Evidence at the Madlanga Commission this weekalso implicated Mkhwanazi in an operation linked to the alleged theft of valuable stonesin Johannesburg. Precious stones valued at R14.9 million were allegedly seized from the Killarney home of Peter Prinsloo on 11 February 2023, but only a fraction of the stones, worth R40 000, were later recovered. It was previously heard that CCTV footage obtained by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) appears to show an EMPD officer handing over minerals to Mkhwanazi.

[/paywall]