Do Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s cop cartel accusations add up 14 months later?
When KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi first alleged in July 2025 that a cartel had infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice sector, politics and private business, skepticism was widespread. Some dismissed his claims as a distraction from other deep state criminality. Others questioned his motives outright.
Fourteen months later, the landscape has shifted considerably. While doubts about Mkhwanazi himself persist in some quarters, the weight of evidence now suggests that substantial portions of his accusations were accurate. The scandal he triggered has only expanded, with investigations, suspensions and criminal developments continuing to unfold across law enforcement and political circles.
The allegations split South Africa’s law enforcement and political establishment into opposing camps. Suspended deputy national commissioner of crime detection Shadrack Sibiya exemplified the skeptical faction, telling Parliament that Mkhwanazi was “playing the country” with a “mind game” and “playing with words.” Sibiya himself has since been referred for disciplinary processes and criminal investigation, with his actions and alleged links to someone accused of organized crime coming under scrutiny at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
The counter-narrative held that Mkhwanazi fabricated cartel infiltration accusations to obscure Crime Intelligence malfeasance and slush fund looting. According to Mkhwanazi’s position, this theory was weaponized to maliciously target certain Crime Intelligence officers. Recent developments have tilted the scales in his direction. Criminal charges against a group of those officers were unconditionally withdrawn in August, suggesting the prosecution case lacked substance.
Testing Mkhwanazi’s central claims against what has actually transpired reveals a pattern of corroboration. He alleged that a drug cartel, working with complicit businesspeople, controlled a syndicate involving politicians, national and metro police officers, correctional services officers, prosecutors and judges. The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and Parliament’s ad hoc committee were subsequently formed to investigate. Several individuals implicated now face criminal complaints and mounting accusations. Some have been arrested, placed on leave or suspended, including politicians, law enforcers and business figures. This pattern suggests substance to the broader accusation.
Mkhwanazi identified the controlling drug cartel as the Big Five and claimed members registered private security companies to access firearms and climb cartel ranks. Big Five suspects named include Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Katiso Molefe, both facing various criminal charges. The Big Five was allegedly headed by politically connected taxi boss Jothan Msibi, who died in 2024. When irregularities around Matlala’s security company surfaced, the regulatory authority overseeing private security announced an industry crackdown in 2025. Though more details about the Big Five remain to emerge, the name surfaced decades ago in connection with alleged drug traffickers, suggesting the current iteration may be a continuation of those networks. Criminal elements embedded in private security have long been documented.
Mkhwanazi claimed that Matlala was financially supporting the political ambitions of then-police minister Senzo Mchunu and ANC-aligned information peddler Brown Mogotsi. Mchunu was sidelined shortly after these accusations surfaced, though he denied Matlala was funding him and described Mogotsi merely as someone he knew as a “comrade.” Matlala now faces various criminal charges including attempted murder and involvement in a questionable police tender. Mogotsi is in state custody after being accused of faking his own assassination. While it remains unclear whether Matlala was funding Mchunu’s political ambitions, the state clearly views both as alleged criminals.
Mkhwanazi alleged that criminals influenced Mchunu to issue a directive at year-end 2024 ordering the disbandment of KwaZulu-Natal’s Political Killings Task Team, which they believed was investigating them. Mchunu denied this along with the Matlala funding accusation, but President Cyril Ramaphosa placed him on special leave regardless. Other police officers have stated that Mchunu acted without authorization when issuing the PKTT disbandment directive, though the accusation has not been conclusively proved or disregarded.
Mkhwanazi referenced “General Khan,” identified as senior Crime Intelligence officer Feroz Khan. The Madlanga Commission has heard mounting accusations against Khan, ranging from alleged associations with tobacco kingpins to politicians. Khan faces criminal charges in an illicit precious metals case and was wounded in a shooting towards the end of June this year, preventing his scheduled testimony at the Madlanga Commission. On September 2, Khan was dismissed from the South African Police Service for failing to appear before an officer handling his disciplinary process, though his lawyers may challenge this dismissal.
Mkhwanazi accused a rogue element of operating within the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption. Idac’s head at the time, Andrea Johnson, initially denied this and rejected suggestions of a “witch-hunt” against certain police officers. She later conceded that legal processes linked to pivotal Crime Intelligence arrests were flawed. Johnson resigned as Idac head in July as accusations against her mounted. Her apparent closeness to Khan raised further questions. Mkhwanazi appears to have been correct on this point.
Mkhwanazi suggested that Brian Padayachee, a former Crime Intelligence officer who joined Idac, oversaw a maliciously driven criminal case against senior Crime Intelligence officers regarding an allegedly irregular appointment of then-head Dumisani Khumalo. Those officers were arrested. Padayachee was subsequently suspended in this scandal. The criminal charges against Khumalo and his colleagues were unconditionally withdrawn in August, suggesting Mkhwanazi was correct that certain Idac officers pursued Crime Intelligence officers without adequate factual foundation.
Mkhwanazi alleged that Crime Intelligence officers released classified documents containing allegations against colleagues to a member of Parliament, later identified as National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams, who had previously spoken against Mkhwanazi. Adams claimed the information was slipped under his office door. This led him to lodge complaints against Crime Intelligence officers including Khumalo, whose charges were subsequently withdrawn. Adams conceded he may have been used in a broader plot targeting specific Crime Intelligence officers, and he now faces criminal accusations relating to a murder investigation.
Mkhwanazi’s initial assertions included claims that the state-infiltrating Big Five cartel had headquarters in Gauteng and was importing drugs from South America through Durban’s port. Daily Maverick has previously reported on global drug traffickers favoring that port. Cocaine, particularly from Brazil, has repeatedly been intercepted in Durban. Various police officers have testified at the Madlanga Commission about concerns that certain colleagues, either deliberately or through negligence, contributed to critical cocaine investigations being thwarted. Evidence suggests some were complicit in underhanded activities.
A striking example involves cocaine worth more than R200-million stolen from a walk-in safe in the poorly protected offices of the Hawks in Port Shepstone in 2021. Lucas Legabe, 49, was arrested last month, but no police officers have been held accountable for the improper storage of the massive drug consignment. Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya told the Madlanga Commission this week that he did nothing wrong in this saga, despite no internal action against officers. Commissioner Sesi Baloyi responded sharply: “These drugs got lost and that was the end of the story. Nobody faced any consequence. Sitting here, it’s incomprehensible to me that so many exhibits get lost in a situation where the crime scene was horribly mishandled.”
On this evidence, Mkhwanazi appears to have been substantially correct about certain drug matters as well.
The Madlanga Commission is on a brief break until September 14 and aims to wrap up hearings by early October before presenting a report to President Ramaphosa. Parliament’s ad hoc committee finished hearing witness testimony earlier this year and is expected to complete its report by September 11, though that deadline has been extended before. What emerges from these investigations, ongoing criminal cases and court proceedings will inevitably clarify remaining questions about the full scope and nature of the infiltration Mkhwanazi described.