The Day Mchunu Ran Out of Answers- Madlanga Commission 4 and 5 December 2025-Highlights

Video Description

Senzo Mchunu’s appearances before the Madlanga Commission in late 2025 became one of the most dramatic political‑accountability spectacles in recent South African history, unfolding across several key dates that shaped both the narrative and the national mood. After KwaZulu‑Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi publicly accused him on 6 July 2025 of interfering in political‑murder investigations and unlawfully disbanding the Political Killings Task Team, the pressure on Mchunu intensified as the commission, established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2025, began calling witnesses whose testimonies painted a picture of institutional collapse, intimidation, and political contamination inside SAPS. By 1 December 2025, media outlets were already reporting that Mchunu’s “date with the Madlanga Commission” had been set, signalling that his testimony would close out a bruising year of revelations. When he finally took the stand in Pretoria on 4 and 5 December 2025, continuing into Friday, 5 December 2025, he struggled under the weight of cross‑examination from retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, who pressed him relentlessly on why he had issued an “immediate” directive to disband the PKTT without consulting National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola or any other senior SAPS leadership. Madlanga challenged the logic, legality, and secrecy of the move, especially given that Mchunu and Masemola had been together at a funeral just days before the directive was issued, yet Mchunu still bypassed him entirely. Witness after witness had already accused him of undermining investigations, interfering in politically sensitive cases, and contributing to operational paralysis within SAPS, and his attempts to explain that the word “immediately” should not be read “in isolation” only deepened the perception that he was evading accountabilitySABC News. By 12 December 2025, the commission’s hearings had become a national fixation, with City Press highlighting how testimonies from Mkhwanazi, business figures, and senior officers had “grabbed South Africa’s attention” and exposed a justice system riddled with distrust and alleged corruption. Then, on 17 December 2025, President Ramaphosa received the confidential interim report of the commission, a moment that underscored the seriousness of the allegations and the potential for criminal referrals, which the Presidency later confirmed Ramaphosa was prepared to greenlight “almost immediately” as the commission resumed hearings in JanuaryDaily Maverick. By that point, Mchunu had already been placed on leave of absence, his political standing shaken, and his testimony widely viewed as raising more questions than it answered. The dates, the sequence of events, and the mounting contradictions combined to create a portrait of a minister cornered by his own decisions, a police service fractured by internal battles, and a commission determined to expose the truth behind South Africa’s long‑running political‑killings crisis.