A stunning claim has pierced the formal atmosphere of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, suggesting a social bond between one of South Africa’s most powerful political figures and an alleged criminal kingpin. Testimony revealed that a bodyguard for accused murderer and businessman Katiso “KT” Molefe told arresting officers that his boss was personal friends with the now-suspended Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu.
The revelation came from Captain Maxwell Wanda, a former member of the elite Political Killings Task Team. He was detailing the chaotic December 2024 arrest of Molefe at his Sandhurst mansion, an operation already mired in controversy after Hawks members allegedly tried to shut it down.
A Whisper in the Chaos
Captain Wanda described a scene of high tension. After dealing with the unexpected arrival of Hawks officers who questioned the legitimacy of the raid, he was walking back towards Molefe’s property.
It was then that Molefe’s bodyguard and driver, Lehasa Moloi, who was under guard by specialized combat officers, called him over. “He asked me for an excuse for which I attended to him,” Wanda told the commission.
In that brief, charged interaction, Moloi allegedly delivered a message seemingly designed to intimidate or give the officers pause: he stated that his employer, KT Molefe, was friends with Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.
The Context: A High-Stakes Arrest
This claim was not made in a vacuum. Molefe was being arrested for the murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart, who was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity. Swart was allegedly mistaken for a colleague who had exposed tender corruption linked to the state-owned enterprise Transnet.
The suggestion of a friendship with the nation’s top law enforcement official, thrown into the mix during a already contested arrest, adds a explosive new layer to the commission’s work. It directly fuels allegations of improper relationships and potential political protection for powerful figures accused of serious crimes.
For a commission tasked with investigating corruption and criminal syndicate infiltration within the justice system, this testimony is a direct hit. It moves the inquiry from abstract concepts of “interference” to a specific, named connection between a suspended minister and an alleged underworld leader, raising the most serious questions yet about who truly holds power and influence in the shadows of the state.
{Source: IOL}
