Our Viewpoint | Mkhwanazi’s allegations demand answers
"South Africans have become accustomed to commissions of inquiry that produce voluminous reports only to gather dust on government shelves."
A year ago, KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi did something unprecedented. His unexpected, explosive media briefing on July 6, 2025, broke the culture of silence that has too often characterised South Africa’s law enforcement agencies.
In doing so, he lifted the lid on what many suspected but few dared confront publicly: that organised crime had taken hold of the country’s policing structures. Twelve months later, that lid remains open.
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, established in response to those allegations, has exposed a web of corruption claims involving senior police officials, alleged criminal syndicates, procurement irregularities and interference in investigations. Witnesses have testified to uncomfortable truths.
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Some have even been killed after giving evidence. Investigations have led to arrests, criminal charges and disciplinary proceedings involving senior figures. While many allegations remain to be tested in court, they can no longer be dismissed as rumour or political theatre.
South Africans have become accustomed to commissions of inquiry that produce voluminous reports only to gather dust on government shelves. The Madlanga Commission has begun to distinguish itself.
Its interim recommendations have been acted upon, its proceedings have informed criminal investigations, and its work has demonstrated professionalism, independence and urgency.
It has also laid bare an unsettling reality: allegations that those entrusted to fight organised crime may, in some instances, have enabled it.
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Claims involving the narcotics trade, procurement corruption and the alleged manipulation of police investigations have shaken public confidence in the South African Police Service to its core. That trust cannot be rebuilt by looking away.
The process has been uncomfortable, as meaningful accountability often is. Before South Africa can restore confidence in its criminal justice system, however, it must first expose the full extent of the rot. Lieutenant-General Mkhwanazi started that process.
The Madlanga Commission must now be allowed to finish it. The commission’s request for more time should therefore be granted. The network it has uncovered is too extensive, the questions too important and the stakes too high for the task to be left unfinished.
