South Africa: Political Killings Task Team Shut At Worst Time Before Elections

Major General Mary Motsepe said an audit found serious problems in at least 120 political killing dockets taken from KwaZulu Natal to Pretoria.

She also said Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi distanced himself from the cases once they were removed from the task team.

Major General Mary Motsepe, the head of the South African Police Service serious and violent crime unit, gave detailed evidence about the 121 political killing dockets that were seized when the KwaZulu Natal Political Killings Task Team was shut down last year.

She told the Madlanga Commission in Pretoria that she first heard informally in March this year that the dockets were being transferred to her office.

She said she did not agree with the decision to shut down the task team in the first place and believed Police Minister Senzo Mchunu should have spoken to all affected divisions first.

Motsepe said the decision came at the worst possible time because political killings usually rise before elections and KZN already has the highest number in the country. She told the Commission that shutting down the team before an election period created serious risks.

She said the 121 dockets were brought to Pretoria for an audit in March and were only returned to the task team in August.

When her team went through the files, they found major problems in at least 120 of them. Some cases were nearly ten years old with suspects identified but never arrested. Others had clear instructions from prosecutors that were ignored. She said one of the oldest cases dated back to 2016 and the last entry in that file was made in 2023.

Motsepe also said that four cases had been marked "nolle prosequi" because investigators did not follow the directions given by prosecutors, which meant those cases could not move forward.

She told the Commission she still does not understand why the dockets were taken to Pretoria for auditing. She said KwaZulu Natal Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi distanced himself from the files once they were removed from the task team. She also said General Fannie Masemola informed General Senthumule that Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya would decide how the cases should be handled after the dissolution.

Motsepe said she was later instructed to set up a group of detectives to work on the dockets. She told the Commission that the quality of the cases showed how badly the shutdown of the task team disrupted political murder investigations.

Read the original article on Scrolla.