Madlanga Commission | ‘It’s unfair to focus resources on Political Killings while others also die’ — Mchunu

Suspended police minister, Senzo Mchunu, says the disproportionate allocation of state resources to political killings — while other categories of murder receive far less attention — cannot be justified.

Mchunu testified again before the Madlanga Commission today, which is probing his alleged role in the unlawful disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

He argued that it is unfair for policing resources to be concentrated heavily on one category of killings when South Africa faces widespread and escalating violence driven by multiple factors.

Mchunu said that when he took office in 2018, the country was already grappling with high murder levels, fuelled by illegal firearms, rising substance abuse, Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, and political tensions.

According to Mchunu, only 95 politically linked murders were recorded between 2018 and 2024 — compared to thousands of non-political murders each year. While political killings remained a concern, Mchunu said the scale did not warrant disproportionate resource allocation.

He disputed claims that he dissolved the PKTT instantly when he issued the instruction in December last year. Witnesses previously told the commission the minister stripped the unit of its duties with immediate effect on 31 December.

Mchunu insisted that by that date, his office had already conducted a work study and drafted a memorandum requesting funds for the PKTT, along with compiling its report.

He argued that although the dissolution letter stated the decision was “immediate,” this referred to the urgency of submitting a preliminary report — not the instant shutdown of the unit.

He added that it was not the first time he had issued directives that departments were free to implement according to their operational timing.

Mchunu said it took him three days to decide to disband the PKTT, stressing that the unit was not singled out but formed part of a broader review of the ministry’s structures and budget.

“It arose in our assessment as we were doing our work. We noted there is a Police Inspectorate and, in the context of optimising our budget, needed to consider what the PKTT meant within that process. Any component could have surfaced for review while we were processing our findings,” he said.

He acknowledged that the PKTT — the first unit to be deactivated — had operated for more than six years, far longer than most task teams, which are generally meant to function for no more than six months due to limited structural budgets. The PKTT was funded from other ministry programmes, he added, placing additional pressure on already strained resources.

Mchunu said that after six months in office, he felt changes were necessary and spent three days reflecting before issuing the deactivation letter.

The suspended minister will be back on the stand on Friday.

Written by: Odirile Rabalao