KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi testifies at the Madlanga Commission in Pretoria on 18 September 2025. Picture: Gallo Images / Alet Pretorius KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has been accused of personally taking part in the torture of a suspended police officer while he was in custody. The allegations were made by former South African Police Service (Saps) sergeant Samkeliso Honest Mlotshwa during testimony before parliament’s ad hoc committee in Cape Town on Friday, 13 March.
The committee is probing claims of corruption, criminal conduct and political interference within South Africa’s justice system. Mlotshwa was arrested in Mozambique on 23 November 2024 in connection with the kidnapping of KwaDukuza businessman Zakariyya Desai, who had been abducted earlier that year. He was brought back to South Africa a few days later and charged alongside Mozambican nationals Esmael Maulide Ramos Nangy and Stefane Pereira Da Costa Brites.
The trio faced charges including kidnapping, extortion and attempted murder. However, the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew the charges in January 2025. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) is currently investigating the torture allegations.
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During his testimony, Mlotshwa, who joined Sap in early 2006, told MPs he was working on the day of Desai’s kidnapping on 10 September 2024. He later went to the police barracks after finishing his shift at Lebombo Border Post in Komatipoort. He testified that he had travelled to Maputo for a “business trip” to repatriate the body of a client as he runs a funeral parlour in Matshulu, Mpumalanga.
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