Home NationalCrime Intelligence Boss Khumalo Alleges Criminal Cartels Engineered PKTT Disbandment to Shield Their Operations

Crime Intelligence Boss Khumalo Alleges Criminal Cartels Engineered PKTT Disbandment to Shield Their Operations

by Selinda Phenyo
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Crime Intelligence Boss Khumalo Alleges Criminal Cartels Engineered PKTT Disbandment to Shield Their Operations

In a stunning revelation that has sent shockwaves through South Africa’s law enforcement circles, Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo has pointed fingers at powerful criminal cartels for pushing the shutdown of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team (PKTT). Testifying before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Monday, 29 September 2025, Khumalo painted a picture of deep-rooted interference aimed at protecting shady networks from exposure. This comes amid growing scrutiny over the abrupt end to the unit, which had been cracking down on assassinations tied to politics and tenders. As the commission digs deeper into claims of corruption and meddling in the justice system, Khumalo’s words highlight how organised crime may have wormed its way into high places, threatening the fight against violence that has plagued KwaZulu-Natal for years.


The PKTT, set up in 2018 to tackle a spike in killings, was suddenly dissolved on 31 December 2024 by suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu—a move that has sparked fierce debate and legal questions. With over 1,000 political murders recorded in the province since 2011, the team’s work was seen as a lifeline for communities torn by rivalries and greed. Khumalo’s testimony adds fuel to the fire, suggesting the disbandment was no simple admin tweak but a calculated hit by crooks feeling the heat. This article explores Khumalo’s claims, the PKTT’s history and successes, the role of key figures like former Minister Bheki Cele, the extension to Eastern Cape cases like the Fort Hare murders, the threats from cartels, and what this means for justice in South Africa.


Khumalo’s Bombshell: Cartels Pulled Strings to Shut Down the PKTT


Taking the stand in Pretoria, Khumalo didn’t hold back, linking the PKTT’s end to outside pressures from criminal groups. “It is my view that the attempt to disband the political killings task team was due to the influence of a particular organised crime cartel over the Ministry of Police as well as the South African Police Service. These individuals mistakenly thought the task team was investigating their cartel,” he told the commission.


He went further, saying “powerful figures who felt threatened” by the PKTT had orchestrated its downfall. “The disbandment was driven by forces that knew the task team’s work was closing in on them. It was not in the interest of justice nor the people of KwaZulu-Natal.” Khumalo stressed he has solid proof but can’t spill it all in public. “There is considerably more evidence at my disposal that cannot be shared in a public space. Sharing some of this evidence will expose our methodologies, our informants, and compromise ongoing investigations.”


His words echo earlier worries from KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who first blew the whistle on meddling in July 2025. Probes have shown the shutdown delayed justice for months, with cases stalling as dockets shifted to Pretoria. Critics, including retired Interpol figures, slammed Mchunu for acting alone without proper checks, calling it a blow to fighting killings that dropped sharply after the PKTT started.


The PKTT’s Birth and Mandate: Born from Bloodshed, Not Just Reports


Khumalo set the record straight on how the PKTT came about, saying it wasn’t sparked by the Moerane Commission of Inquiry into political killings, as many think. “The processes of establishing the task team started in May 2018, and it commenced operations in July that year. The Moerane findings were only published in 2019. Most of those recommendations — such as prioritising specialised investigators — were already being implemented by the PKTT.”


The unit kicked off as a provincial effort to probe assassinations linked to party fights, tender wars, and other violence that ramped up between 2011 and 2018. Over 1,000 lives were lost in those years, with hits often tied to ANC internal battles in KwaZulu-Natal. Former National Commissioner Khehla Sitole bumped it up to a national level, putting it under the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) with ministers from police, justice, defence, and state security. This gave it more clout to chase leads across borders and dig into bigger networks.


Numbers tell the story: killings fell from peaks in the 2010s to lower levels by 2024, thanks to the team’s focused work. They nabbed suspects in high-profile cases, like taxi boss hits and councillor murders, building a rep for getting results where regular cops struggled.


No Meddling from Cele: Former Minister’s Role Clarified


Questions swirled around former Police Minister Bheki Cele, who chaired the IMC. Khumalo shut that down, saying Cele never called the shots. “According to my recollection, there were no instructions that came from Minister Cele as chair of the IMC. He received progress reports, but issuing operational direction would have exceeded his powers.”


Cele’s hands-off approach kept the team independent, focusing on facts over politics. This contrasts with claims against Mchunu, accused of overstepping by ordering the shutdown without legal backing. KwaZulu-Natal’s prosecutions boss Elaine Harrison contradicted Mchunu’s reasons, saying the PKTT was vital and its end had no solid ground. A February 2025 letter from Deputy National Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya also questioned the move, calling it unlawful and disruptive to ongoing probes.


Extending the Fight: PKTT Tackles Fort Hare Murders in Eastern Cape


Khumalo revealed how the PKTT’s reach grew beyond KwaZulu-Natal when the Presidency called for help in the Eastern Cape. “The extension of the mandate was a result of the President’s appointment of an inter-ministerial task team to respond to the slow progress at Fort Hare. The PKTT was instructed to report directly to the National Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola.”


Trouble at the University of Fort Hare started in early 2023, with a wave of attacks tied to fraud and corruption probes on campus. On 6 January 2023, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sakhela Buhlungu’s bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, was gunned down outside Buhlungu’s Alice home in what cops believe was a botched hit on the VC himself. Vesele died shielding his boss, sparking outrage and a national outcry.


The killings didn’t stop: in May 2023, fleet manager Petrus Roets was shot dead in East London, linked to tender scams. By mid-2023, an Eastern Cape cop appeared in court for the murders, part of a bigger ring. Arrests piled up—five in April 2023 for Roets and another staffer’s deaths, then more in June 2025 when two alleged hitmen got nabbed in Gauteng after a seven-month hunt. Total suspects now stand at 12, with 10 caught since 2023, some still behind bars awaiting trial.


The PKTT’s involvement sped things up, uncovering ties to organised crime and campus graft. Their work exposed how killers targeted whistleblowers and reformers, mirroring KwaZulu-Natal’s woes but in a new spot.


Cartels’ Grip: Infiltration Threatens SAPS from Within


Khumalo didn’t stop at the PKTT—he warned the whole police service is under siege. He called Crime Intelligence the “cornerstone” of SAPS ops, especially as threats shift to organised crime. “One will then deduct that it means Crime Intelligence remains the cornerstone of SAPS operations. More especially if we look at the shift of our traditional crime threat analysis, moving more on organised crime. Effective intelligence within SAPS has never been more crucial.”


But he flagged dangers inside: “Interventions have never been so important like nowadays, because of the level of threats from within the department itself. Organised crime groupings have adopted sophisticated methods to compromise SAPS operations.” He spoke of the “Big 5” cartel in Gauteng, already deep in politics and police, using bribes and hits to stay ahead.


This echoes Mkhwanazi’s earlier claims of syndicates pulling strings in probes, with names like Matlala and Mogotsi surfacing. Khumalo defended his own reforms in Crime Intelligence, fixing past messes like misused funds from 2011-2012, but stressed ongoing fights against infiltration.


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