By Johnathan Paoli
Suspended City of Ekurhuleni Risk and Legal Services head, Advocate Khemraj “Kemi” Behari, has defended his role in the stalled investigation and disciplinary processes linked to the “blue lights scandal” involving EMPD deputy head Julius Mkhwanazi.
Testifying before the Madlanga Commission on Monday, Behari denied that he ever blocked disciplinary action, misled the municipality, or received a so-called “loyalty bonus” for allegedly protecting Mkhwanazi.
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“This allegation that I received R600 000, it was shocking. It was astonishing. There was no loyalty bonus,” Behari said.
Behari was placed on precautionary suspension with full pay in December, after acouncil resolution, amid allegations aired at the commission that hefailed to act on, or interfered in, disciplinary steps linked to Mkhwanazi.
The blue-lights saga has become a central thread in the commission’s interrogation of corruption, maladministration, and political interference in Ekurhuleni’s policing structures.
Former Employee Relations head Xolani Nciza previously told the commission he believed his own suspension stemmed from a 29 August 2023 letter in which he questioned then–city manager Imogen Mashazi’s directive that any internal investigation into Mkhwanazi required prior approval from Behari.
Nciza testified that Behari had effectively halted a six-charge disciplinary inquiry prompted by media questions, claiming there was “no case”.
Behari flatly rejected this, adding that his concern had only been the absence of legal justification to extend Mkhwanazi’s suspension.
“I have not stopped any of the processes of the disciplinary continuing. I was trying to protect the city’s interests,” he testified.
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But witnesses including suspended EMPD chief Jabulani Mapiyeye and retired EMPD officer Revo Spies have placed far greater responsibility on Mashazi, whom they painted as the primary figure preventing Mkhwanazi from facing any accountability.
According to them, the deflection of scrutiny extended into a coordinated environment in which Behari’s legal position, too, played a role.
Under questioning, Behari sketched his progression through the city’s structures, repeatedly emphasising that his early focus lay in compliance, not HR.
The allegations against him, he said, emerged between 2023 and 2025, and were driven by Nciza, Spies and Mapiyeye.
He insisted none of them followed proper internal mechanisms for raising impropriety.
“There are several mechanisms at local government level to address allegations of impropriety, corruption or misconduct,” he said.
Much of his testimony drifted into lengthy digressions about political turbulence following the new Ekurhuleni council in 2021–2022, failures in the city’s legal strategy, non-payment of private lawyers, and what he claimed was the legal division’s high success rate under his tenure.
He also accused Nciza of improperly appointing lawyers without mandates, saying his own interventions had saved the city R3 million in legal fees.
But Behari gave little direct explanation for why the disciplinary inquiry against Mkhwanazi collapsed.
He eventually acknowledged he had reviewed the file and had been asked for “supportive comments” regarding an extension of suspension, but insisted the authority to extend or proceed rested solely with Mashazi or HR.
“There was no way that myself or the city manager could have influenced the entire council. This is why the corruption allegation is absurd,” he said.
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He further claimed the witnesses implicating him, notably Mapiyeye, Spies and EMPD’s Chris Steyn, each had their own disciplinary clouds at the time, suggesting they might have feared being implicated if the Mkhwanazi matter advanced.
He pointed specifically to Mapiyeye’s disputed signature on an operational plan tied to alleged underworld figure and businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala’s security company, arguing that irregular donations or loaned vehicles fitted with illegal blue lights would have reflected poorly on the suspended chief.
As for Steyn, Behari said the official’s assertion that Matlala’s vehicles were not fitted with blue lights had been a “consideration” in his view of the case.
Commission chair Mbuyiseli Madlanga eventually intervened, saying that Behari had spent “quite a while” giving broad commentary rather than addressing the allegations head-on.
Even then, Behari continued to frame himself as a corrective force in a dysfunctional institution.
“Not the whole of EMPD is rotten,” he insisted.
The commission continues.
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