Brown Mogotsi’s CIA Allegations Shake the Madlanga Commission

The Madlanga Commission in Pretoria has heard many startling claims over the past months, but few have landed with the same shock as those made by North West businessman Oupa Brown Mogotsi. His testimony moved from his deep history in intelligence work to a moment that set the commission’s hearing room on edge. A source, he said, had raised a suspicion that the Zulu King Misuzulu and KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi were somehow linked to the Central Intelligence Agency.

It was a claim delivered in front of a national audience and immediately questioned within the commission itself. Mogotsi conceded that the allegation could be classified as hearsay. Still, its appearance in such a prominent forum ensured that it would form part of the official record.

From uMkhonto weSizwe to undercover work

Before the CIA suspicion entered the room, Mogotsi spent much of his testimony outlining his long and complicated relationship with intelligence structures. He told the commission that he served in uMkhonto weSizwe between 1993 and 1995, where he focused on counterintelligence. Four years later, he said, he was recruited as an informant for the South African Police Service and later became a contact agent in Crime Intelligence.

His role involved cultivating informants, building covert networks, and relaying sensitive information to a handler. He explained that contact agents often create detailed backstories as part of their operational cover that are designed to withstand scrutiny while allowing operatives to move unseen inside intelligence environments.

Irregularities inside Crime Intelligence

The businessman also spoke at length about internal problems inside Crime Intelligence. Mogotsi told the commission that in December 2020, he was approached by the then-deputy national police commissioner for Crime Detection, Sindile Mfazi. The request, he said, came after a Personal Protective Equipment procurement scandal and arrests involving senior Crime Intelligence figures.

Mfazi allegedly asked him to investigate irregularities in vehicle procurement and the way informant payments were handled. Mogotsi claimed he uncovered evidence of inflated claims and cash-based payouts that did not match policy. He also said that at one point, all informants were given a flat three thousand rand fee, regardless of the work done.

Mfazi died in 2021, and the death is under investigation as a suspected poisoning case. Mogotsi testified that after Mfazi passed away, his handler advised him to keep a low profile.

The allegation that lit up the room

The most talked about moment in his appearance came from events in December 2023. Mogotsi said that tensions had risen around alleged Israeli interests in mining activities in the Richards Bay area at the same time the South African government brought genocide accusations against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

According to Mogotsi, one of his sources in that period expressed a suspicion that both the Zulu King and the KZN police commissioner were linked to Western intelligence through the CIA. The commission chair, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, immediately pressed him on the claim, and Mogotsi agreed that it should be regarded as hearsay.

He testified that Mkhwanazi had received training in the United States and that the Zulu monarch had also studied in the country. In his affidavit, he said both men were believed by his source to have been recruited to protect Western interests. He further alleged that the political killings task team in KZN was deployed in ways that targeted individuals associated with Prince Phakade and that complaints laid against the task team were not investigated.

A final look ahead

For now, the claims about CIA links stand exactly where Mogotsi placed them. They are suspicions from a source, acknowledged as hearsay, and submitted to a commission whose task is to separate truth from rumour. His testimony, however, gave South Africans a rare look into the world of undercover agents, handlers, informants, and the politics that flow behind the scenes.

As the commission continues its work, the country watches closely. Not because every allegation proves true, but because each one reveals how much still needs to be understood about the inner workings of Crime Intelligence and the fault lines shaping its future.