Staff Reporter
Police said on Saturday the Madlanga Commission Task Team had arrested a 50-year-old senior municipal official at his home in Gauteng on charges of fraud, corruption, and defeating the ends of justice.
“These arrests emanate from an ongoing investigation into corruption within the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD),” SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said in a short statement.
The arrested official was not named.
“The Task Team is still searching for other suspects linked to the case,” said Mathe, adding that “no further comment will be provided on the merits of the case at this stage”.
The suspects are expected to appear before the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 20 April, she said.
Eyewitness News reported that police had confirmed the arrested man was suspended EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi.
eNCA also separately identified him as the official arrested.
Attempts by Inside Politics to reach Mkhwanazi on several known phone numbers to confirm or deny the reports went unanswered.
Attempts to reach Madlanga Commission spokesperson Jeremy Michaels to confirm or deny the same were also unsuccessful.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in January that the Madlanga Commission’s interim report had found prima facie evidence of wrongdoing involving Mkhwanazi and other current and former Ekurhuleni officials.
Those matters were referred for immediate criminal investigation, while a special task team was set up to investigate the individuals identified by the commission.
During his appearance before Parliament’s ad hoc committee and the commission — both established to probe claims of criminal infiltration of and political interference in the country’s criminal justice system — Mkhwanazi admitted receiving money from attempted murder accused tenderpreneur and alleged underworld figure, Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala.
He has, among numerous other allegations placed before the committee and the commission, also been accused of ordering the alleged cover-up of the 2022 extra-judicial killing of Emmanuel Mbhense. Mkhwanazi has denied the allegations.
This is a developing story.
INSIDE POLITICS