By Johnathan Paoli
Acting Deputy National Commissioner of Crime Detection and Forensic Services, Lieutenant General Hilda Senthumule has stated that confusion over the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) and the handling of sensitive case dockets lay at the heart of delays and disputes between senior police leadership, insisting the files were never in his custody and should not have been redirected to national offices.
Appearing before the committee on Tuesday, that the exclusion of KZN Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during the disbandment of the PKTT and tensions within SAPS leadership has led the country to this point.
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“The exclusion of the Police Commissioner is why we are here today. If he was not excluded, we don’t know what the outcomes would have been,” she said.
Senthumule said her involvement began formally on 4 February 2025 when she received written instructions from suspended Deputy National Commissioner (DNC) Shadrack Sibiya tied to a ministerial directive to dissolve the unit.
The letter directed her to engage with the Divisional Commissioner of Crime Intelligence with the view to do a proper handing over and to follow all processes necessary to conduct a handing over process.
She said the correspondence made clear that the instruction originated from the executive.
“The letter further indicated that the Minister of Police had issued a directive to the National Commissioner of Police for the immediate deactivation and disbandment of the PKTT,” she said.
Working with the PKTT project manager, Crime Intelligence head Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, Senthumule said they began mapping a structured implementation process.
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“Based on the DNC’s instruction to me and Lieutenant General Khumalo to implement the Minister’s directive of disbandment, we discussed steps that were supposed to be taken to complete the handover process. We developed a plan which we termed the PKTT Disbandment Implementation Plan, outlining the various phases involved in the handover process,” she said.
The plan was presented to suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and senior leadership on 6 March 2025.
Senthumule said the document captured the full scale of the case load and how each category of docket would be handled.
“The Implementation Plan recorded that 125 dockets under investigation and 10 dockets submitted for the NPA’s decision are to be transferred to KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Serious and Violent Crime for further investigation,” she said.
Senthumule said that new cases on political killings that have been reported would be referred to the Serious and Violent Crime Investigation Murder and Robbery Units in KZN.
She said closed matters were earmarked for administrative return, with 279 finalised dockets, 57 withdrawn dockets and 9 unfounded dockets to be returned to their original stations for archiving and filing.
A major safeguard involved cases already before court, with Senthumule confirming that 114 dockets on the court roll were to remain with the PKTT until they were all finalised.
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However, Senthumule said the proposal became a flashpoint.
“During the deliberations, the DNC [Sibiya] was not pleased with the approach of keeping the court-going dockets with the PKTT, arguing that would imply that the team was not disbanded,” she told MPs.
Senthumule said the underlying dispute was not about compliance with the ministerial directive, but about operational practicality and case integrity.
She argued that relocating active court matters risked undermining prosecutions and continuity in investigations.
Tensions resurfaced at a follow-up meeting convened by Mchunu on 27 March 2025 at the Tshwane Police Academy, which ended abruptly.
“It was adjourned prematurely as the Minister was dissatisfied with the direction of the progress as presented,” she said.
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The disagreement centred on changing case numbers.
“The bone of contention for the Minister was that in the previous meeting of 6 March 2025, Lieutenant General Khumalo presented 125 dockets under investigation. However, on 27 March 2025, Lieutenant General Khumalo presented 121 dockets as four dockets which were under investigation during the meeting of 6 March 2025 were successfully placed on the court roll,” Senthumule said.
Senthumule said the minister reprimanded the project manager and withdrew from further engagement.
“The Minister singled out Lieutenant General Khumalo and chastised him on his unwillingness to implement his instruction. He closed the meeting with the indication that he will no longer engage with us on the matter of the PKTT,” she said.
Asked on the physical location and control of the dockets, Senthumule said the operational plan proposed that investigative dockets be transferred to specialised provincial units rather than national headquarters.
She was unequivocal about whether the files belonged at national level and emphasised that the physical location of the files did not change during the planning phase.