City Press reports that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has lodged a complaint with the police watchdog against KwaZulu-Natal's top cop, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, over claims that he interfered with the arrest of a senior correctional services official on drug charges.
On Wednesday, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) gave Mkhwanazi a week to submit a sworn statement explaining his role in the matter, after receiving Mchunu's complaint. The letter dated 12 March 2025, signed by the acting national head of investigations, Thuso Keefelakae, states that Ipid has “certain information at its disposal indicating that you may have been involved in instructing the members not to arrest Ms Nelly Ndlovu”. In January, it was reported that Mkhwanazi allegedly tried to block the arrest of Ndlovu, the former Westville Maximum Prison head, on suspicion of running a drug cartel at the correctional service facility in Durban. The allegations against Mkhwanazi were made in a police report and an occurrence book entry, with some members of the security cluster pushing for him to be charged with defeating the ends of justice. Mkhwanazi has publicly claimed that there are internal efforts to tarnish his name for clamping down on corruption and pursuing rogue elements within the SAPS. This includes rooting out of corruption in the SAPS secret fund, which had been marred by allegations of abuse because of a lack of rigorous supervision. Ian Cameron, chairperson of the portfolio committee on police, said he would not be surprised if Mkhwanazi, whose term ends in a year, was targeted for tackling the rogue elements within the SAPS.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipho Mabena at City Press (subscription or trial registration required)
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