The Madlanga Commission resumes in Pretoria today, Monday, 1 December 2025, with public attention fixed on the live stream as senior police officers continue giving evidence about political killings and alleged interference in SAPS structures.
Proceedings follow a dramatic Friday sitting in which a top cop condemned the decision to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).
According to Friday’s hearing, Acting Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection Lieutenant General Hilda Senthumule told the commission that the shutdown of the PKTT was “irrational and suspiciously calculated”, and said it plunged SAPS into chaos while leaving victims of violent crime in the lurch.
What happened at the Madlanga Commission on Friday?
Testifying in Pretoria, Senthumule described how the disbandment order triggered confusion and collapsing trust within SAPS as senior officers scrambled to implement sweeping directives from then police minister Senzo Mchunu.
She said KwaZulu-Natal commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi – the person best placed to judge the unit’s work – was “deliberately excluded” from the process, which contributed to a chaotic handover of 121 dockets.
Commissioners challenged her directly on the impact this had on families of those killed in political attacks. Senthumule agreed that leadership battles and poor communication had “let victims of crime down”, adding:
“The process being hasty didn’t help us. The decisions we made had far-reaching implications. I think we owe this nation an apology.”
A large part of her evidence focused on internal tensions at the top of SAPS.
She said suspended deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya repeatedly pushed for all PKTT dockets – even cases already before court – to be removed from the team, while she and Crime Intelligence divisional commissioner Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo opposed this, warning it would retraumatise victims and derail prosecutions.
Senthumule also outlined how trust between senior detectives and intelligence officers has since broken down, with units “second-guessing” one another instead of sharing information. Summing up the state of affairs, she told the commission:
“We are in a pariah state,” and said SAPS leadership owed the public greater accountability for the consequences of the PKTT decision.
In one of her sharpest criticisms, she said Mchunu should never have issued sweeping directives without first understanding how SAPS operates.
“The minister ought to have taken time to orientate himself with how SAPS works and to consult the leadership collectively before making major decisions,” she testified.
What the Madlanga Commission is probing
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry is examining how and why the PKTT was disbanded, what happened to its investigations into political killings – particularly in KwaZulu-Natal – and whether political directives or internal power struggles undermined the fight against assassinations.
Senthumule’s evidence on Friday added to an emerging picture of institutional uncertainty, contested authority and strained relationships between SAPS’ detective, intelligence and command structures.
Today’s sitting of the Madlanga Commission is expected to build on that record as commissioners continue questioning senior officers about the chain of decisions that led to the PKTT’s closure, the handling of key dockets and the broader impact on public confidence in SAPS.
How to watch the Madlanga Commission live
The Madlanga Commission resumes this morning in Pretoria, with testimony scheduled throughout the day.
Readers can follow developments via the live stream embedded below:
Readers are advised to refresh this page shortly before the commission resumes to load the stream correctly.
