TimesLIVE reports that there was a “criminal enterprise” operating in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), its former deputy police chief Revo Spies said this week at the Madlanga Commission.
Last week the commission heard about how a senior EMPD officer, Brig Julius Mkhwanazi, had registered vehicles belonging to alleged cartel leader Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s security companies as belonging to the City of Ekurhuleni and of letters, addressed to “to whom it may concern”, that these vehicles were working with the EMPD. The commission heard that Matlala’s security company, Cat VIP Security, had unlawfully been brought in to secure the State of the City event in March 2022. This week, it was claimed that a group of officers reporting to Mkhwanazi were suspected of serious crimes — including murder, robbery, kidnapping and extortion. Yet to date, they have not been prosecuted or subjected to internal disciplinary processes.
Efforts to hold Mkhwanazi to account were blocked by city manager Imogen Mashazi, the commission heard. “My firm belief was that this is a criminal enterprise within the municipal police. It is a core group of officers, specifically within the Specialised Services [the division that was headed by Mkhwanazi], that are involved in serious crimes,” Spies said on Tuesday. On Monday, Spies listed seven criminal cases allegedly involving Mkhwanazi and several officers who reported to him.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Franny Rabkin at TimesLIVE (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Revealing the Misuse of Power: The Ekurhuleni City Manager's Involvement in the EMPD Scandal, at The Star
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