Staying with policing, the South African Police Service (SAPS) had a very busy week in court – and not in the way you’d hope from the people responsible for fighting crime.
A day before Masemola’s court date, Julius Mkhwanazi, the suspended deputy chief of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD), had his own time in the dock. He appeared at the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, after being arrested at his home on Saturday.
The arresting team? The SAPS Madlanga Commission Task Team, who nabbed Mkhwanazi on charges of fraud, corruption, and defeating the ends of justice. SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said that the arrests had nothing to do with any evidence led at the commission, including the Emmanuel Mbense killing or the blue-lights scandal. The Madlanga Task Team made the arrests simply because investigating EMPD corruption is now, essentially, their full-time job. 😆
He wasn’t the only person to be arrested. On Sunday, police confirmed the arrest of another senior Ekurhuleni municipal official, Kagiso Lerutla, the city manager, on identical charges.
The state alleges that in 2019, after Lerutla was arrested for speeding and was due to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court, the pair allegedly recruited and paid a third party, known as “Mr X”, to impersonate him in court, while Lerutla himself went to a job interview. To be clear about what that means: someone else allegedly sat in the dock, answered to Lerutla’s name, and completed legal-diversion paperwork on his behalf, all so the now city manager could attend an interview in peace. 😵💫The impersonator apparently pulled it off until, years later, when a whistleblower exposed the two.
Oh, and when arresting officers arrived at Mkhwanazi’s home, they found a large quantity of live ammunition, even though he has been on full suspension since November 2025.
The whole catastrophe loops back to the Madlanga Commission, which has now clocked more than 90 days of hearings into allegations of the “Big Five” cartel’s capture of the police, metro police, prosecutors, and the judiciary.
Quick recap: The commission was established after last year’s explosive claims by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi (not to be confused with his namesake above). He accused then-police minister Senzo Mchunu of interfering in ongoing investigations, turning the provincial commissioner into something of a hero. Mkhwanazi – Nhlanhla, that is, has since renewed his contract for another five years and is now being discussed as a potential successor to Masemola, which is the kind of twist that keeps political analysts employed.
At this point, the courts are doing more active policing than the police.
