Khumalo questions Mchunu’s decision to disband PKTT without prior assessment

Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo, the head of Crime Intelligence, told the Madlanga Commission that suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s decision to disband the Police Kidnapping Task Team (PKTT) appeared to have been made without a proper assessment. Khumalo said that if the decision had been taken in good faith, the minister would have conducted an analysis of the task team’s effectiveness before ordering its disbandment. “In his directive, the minister stated that the continued existence of the team was no longer required or adding value to policing. But if the minister had no analysis at the time, he could not, in good faith, have reached that conclusion,” Khumalo told the commission. He added that Mchunu also appeared not to have consulted key institutions such as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the State Security Agency (SSA) on the potential impact of the decision on prosecutions and intelligence coordination. “This was further confirmation for me that the necessary due diligence had not been done,” Khumalo said. Khumalo testified that he was never consulted or given any assessment before the disbandment. He said he first learnt of the decision through social media before receiving a letter from Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya on 17 January 2025 confirming that the minister had, on 31 December 2024, ordered the PKTT to be “immediately deactivated and disbanded.” According to the letter, the decision was informed by an assessment suggesting the team no longer made a significant contribution to policing. Khumalo, however, said no such document was ever shared with him. “I’ve never received any assessment that informed this decision,” he said. Khumalo said Mchunu’s decision contradicted the approved financial authority of R20 million and created uncertainty about what should happen to funds already allocated. “If in December you raise the issue to say the minister’s directive of immediate disbandment affects the financial authority that is still active, there will be wasteful expenditure,” he said. He further questioned Sibiya’s instruction that the task team be disbanded immediately while ensuring investigations were not disrupted. “It says disband now but also make sure investigations are not disrupted — that is not reasonable,” Khumalo said. He warned that transferring case dockets to the office of the Divisional Commissioner for Detectives and Forensic Services would inevitably cause disruption, pointing out that the PKTT had been established because existing units were unable to effectively handle political killing investigations. Khumalo also criticised a directive requiring him to submit a comprehensive closing report due a day before he received the letter including reasons for the disbandment. “That was confusing because I was being asked to provide reasons for a decision I was not part of,” he said. He said he had received calls from families of the deceased in both ongoing and concluded cases who expressed disappointment at the decision. Khumalo told the commission that he did not comply with Sibiya’s instruction because it was unclear and “impossible to justify.” “I could not justify the disbandment, and neither could the National Commissioner,” he said.