The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry heard that the case of Namhla Singwa Mtwa was one of more than one hundred files on political killings moved from KwaZulu-Natal to the main SAPS office, where her file sat with no work done for almost three months. Mtwa was shot and killed in April two thousand twenty-two, and there is now deep concern about why her case did not move forward.
Maj-Gen Mary Motsepe, who led Serious and Violent Crime, said her team first worked on the case before it went to the Political Killings Task Team.
She told the commission that plans to make arrests were in place, but court action stopped the work. A key man in the case won an interdict, and when a later plan to act was set, Gen Shadrack Sibiya pulled the file back.
Motsepe told the commission she no longer knew what was happening with the case. She said three men who were said to be hitmen in the murder had since been killed. She also said the files were sent to Pretoria by Sibiya for what was said to be an audit, but no real work was done on them while they were there.
Concerns Over Withheld Dockets
KZN Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had said before that top police in Pretoria moved the files to hide men with ties to politics.
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga asked why the files had to go to Pretoria at all, saying it made no sense when an audit could have been done in KwaZulu-Natal.Motsepe’s team later found big gaps when they checked the files.
Some had lost witness notes. Some had orders from the state that were not carried out. Some had arrest papers that were never used. In some cases, men named by witnesses were not held. She said some files were dropped because witnesses were scared, and others were dropped because orders from the state were not followed.
Impact of PKTT Disbandment
The fight came after the Political Killings Task Team was shut down in late two thousand twenty-four. The move of the files took place soon after that and raised more fear about how these cases were being run.
Motsepe said she did not agree with closing the task team so close to local polls, as there is often more violence before an election.The Madlanga Commission now has copies of all the files, and the original files are said to be back with the KwaZulu-Natal team so the work can start again.
The commission is still looking into claims of blocked work, poor use of staff, and the harm the delays have caused for families who want justice, like the family of Mtwa, whose death caused outrage across the country.
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