Police Minister Senzo Mchunu testifies before the Madlanga commission at Brigitte Mabandla Judicial College in Pretoria on 2 December 2025. Picture: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu KwaZulu-Natal acting deputy provincial commissioner for crime detection, Anthony Gopaul, has questioned suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s direct call to him without provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s knowledge. Gopaul was the first witness at the Madlanga commission after it returned from recess on Monday.
He said Mchunu contacted him for the first time on 5 February 2025 to inquire about the murder of Mandeni Local Municipality ward councillor, Phendukani Mabhida. “I did not recognise the voice at the time, nor did I have the minister’s phone number stored on my phone. I did brief the minister and told him what actually transpired.
He told me I must keep him informed about the investigation. I said to the minister that I was not investigating the murder, although it happened in my district at the time. The murder was being investigated by the political killings task team,” Gopaul explained.
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“The minister then asked me why they were investigating the case. ‘I had instructed that these cases be investigated at the police station where the crime occurred,’” Mchunu said. “I tried to explain to the minister that when it comes to political killings, the team that is investigating these murders is better equipped and trained to understand the modus operandi of how these murders take place, who the hitmen are who were contacted.
“They can do a better linkage, because, if a police station can investigate a case here, it wouldn’t know how it is linked to another murder in another police station across the province. It made better sense to apply that kind of centralisation of the dockets for these investigations. Mchunu did not respond.” Gopaul said he only became aware of the issues around Mchunu and the PKTT after watching the portfolio committee on police, in which Mkhwanazi lamented the minister’s conduct. “At the provincial level, this was not a topic for us,” he said.
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