Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo could be mistaken for a school principal, with his large, rimless spectacles and stoic, serious demeanour.
But his slow, measured elocution did little to veil the bombshell he dropped this week at the Madlanga commission of inquiry into infiltration of the criminal justice system by organised crime networks. The inquiry, named for its chair, former Constitutional Court justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, is throwing light on areas that the Zondo inquiry into state capture did not touch on.
It is clear that the infiltration has developed into a crisis that police officers feel can only be addressed by going public, implying that they do not trust internal channels.
Khumalo has worked his way up the ranks over 34 years. Now the head of crime intelligence, he described to the inquiry a criminal cartel (likely one of many; further evidence on this will be led in camera) called the “Big Five”. He said this group has spread its tentacles into the highest levels of the police, judiciary, business and political class.
Essentially a drug smuggling operation, the Big Five, Khumalo said, operates out of Gauteng with operations focused on the harbours of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Its activities include contract killings, kidnapping, tender fraud, cross-border vehicle hijacking and extortion.
According to Khumalo, the five top figures hold sway over a host of smaller syndicates. These act like mainstream employers, paying members “regular income for employment stability”. The cartel has strict recruitment guidelines, seeking experience, loyalty and, of course, usefulness — these are welcome “entry level” traits and are possessed by many “current officials in the criminal justice system”.
Many participants register private security companies, which serve the useful purpose of providing access to firearms. A dual passport and the ability to travel is a key plus on a would-be member’s CV.
“The Big Five have already penetrated the political sphere and there are documented cases of high-profile political connections. Senior politicians are alleged to be complicit and/or wilfully blind to the syndicate operations,” said Khumalo. “It is one of their hallmark features, that they have penetrated the political sphere.”
Among the group’s “strategic objectives” is to “secure allies” in the judiciary, law enforcement and political structures. Doing so helps the cartel to block legal proceedings that might threaten its activities. Individuals do not retire from the cartel, Khumalo said, but remain as “deal brokers” or in “advisory roles”.
Khumalo’s testimony was led by advocate Adila Hassim SC and provided corroboration for previous evidence by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola.
The Madlanga inquiry was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to investigate explosive allegations by Mkhwanazi in a media briefing in July. He alleged that police minister Senzo Mchunu and high-ranking police officials such as deputy commissioner Shadrack Sibiya were colluding with criminals through an attempt to disband the political killings task team in KZN.
Mkhwanazi and Masemola, in their evidence over the past two weeks, described the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring by Mchunu, who has been suspended. Khumalo’s testimony also dealt with the strategy and inner workings of the task team and why it became a target for the cartel.
The team paid less attention to finding the hitman in a murder than it did to establishing the motive, so it could paint a full picture of the murder and the circumstances surrounding it. Often, Khumalo said, the person who initiates a murder is not the person who carries it out.
Khumalo said he had extensive experience in crime intelligence and an in-depth understanding of the sophisticated methods of organised crime. This helped him to “identify vulnerabilities in advance”.
“One of our responsibilities as crime intelligence is to implement counter-intelligence measures that are directed towards protecting the operations of the SAPS from both within SAPS and outside.
The interventions in the SAPS have never been so important as now, because of the level of threats from within the department
— Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo
“It is very unfortunate, commissioners, that nowadays these threats are made more possible with the strength of the internal part. The interventions in the SAPS have never been so important as now, because of the level of threats from within the department.”
Khumalo linked Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Katiso Molefe to the cartel. Molefe is facing murder charges and Matlala a charge of attempted murder. Matlala is linked to Mchunu through Brown Mogotsi, a power broker inside the ANC. Khumalo said he would name other alleged members behind closed doors.
On Monday members of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) who are probing corruption at Tembisa Hospital in Joburg — which whistleblower Babita Deokaran was killed for exposing — said three syndicates named Maumela, Mazibuko and “Syndicate X” had looted about R2bn from the health facility.
The SIU says Matlala is linked to the Maumela syndicate — whose alleged leader, Hangwani Maumela, is reportedly a nephew of President Cyril Ramaphosa — through three companies that were awarded tenders to the value of R13.5m. Matlala also won a R360m SAPS contract that was later cancelled, but not before R50m had already been paid out, News24 reported.
Matlala’s phone records appear to reveal his links to Mchunu through Mogotsi, to KZN Hawks head Maj-Gen Lesetja Senona, and to acting Ekurhuleni metro police chief Julius Mkhwanazi.
Matlala used Mogotsi as a conduit to pay money to the ANC, particularly to those close to Mchunu.
Khumalo is out on bail after being arrested in June on fraud and corruption charges. An internal police investigation has cleared him of wrongdoing and he has accused Mogotsi of orchestrating his arrest.
Despite the sometimes dramatic claims at the inquiry so far, little hard evidence has been presented — but Khumalo changed that with the phone records this week. Madlanga has made it clear those implicated in testimony will be required to appear before him.
The career police officials who have testified under oath have all stressed that the rule of law and the integrity of the criminal justice system depend on the commission of inquiry uncovering the full picture.
Hopefully, the findings and recommendations of this commission — which has six months to complete its work — will result in more decisive action than those of the Zondo commission did.
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