PRETORIA – A high-ranking South African police officer has revealed a series of text messages that suggest that the country’s police minister, Senzo Mchunu, was working with a group of drug kingpins that are now being referred to as the Big Five.
Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, the South African Police Services’ divisional commissioner of crime intelligence, has named businessmen Katiso “KT” Molefe and Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala as two of the leaders of the notorious Big Five cartel.
The cartel, which is based in Gauteng, is also allegedly involved in various sectors of organized crime, including drug trafficking, hijackings, tender fraud, and contract killings.
Testifying during Day eight of the Madlanga Commission, Khumalo said the cartel is sophisticated and has already infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice system and the political sphere.
“The Big Five has already penetrated the political sphere, and there are documented cases of high-profile connections in the political arena, (with) senior politicians alleged to be complicit and or willfully blind to the syndicate operations,” he said.
Khumalo also highlighted text messages obtained from murder suspect Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, one of the leaders of the “Big 5” Gauteng-based drug cartel, revealed links between suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and payments for ANC events.
“These chats were included in my affidavit because they will provide important context necessary for the commission to understand the decision to disestablish the political killing task team, as well as the manner in which that decision was sought to be implemented by certain elements within the SAPS and the ministry of police,” he said.
Khumalo, who led the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), is facing criminal charges in a separate matter, after being arrested in June at OR Tambo International Airport alongside six high-ranking police officials.
The group is under investigation for serious allegations, including fraud, corruption, and the alleged abuse of intelligence funds.
Khumalo’s arrest according to testimony from KwaZulu-Natal SAPS commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was a calculated move to shut down investigations into powerful drug cartels and organised crime.
“Unsuccessful attempt to prevent SAPS from cancelling its contract with Medicare24 Tshwane District. In pursuit of these goals, Mogotsi in a mistaken belief that an investigation into Matlala was conducted by the PKTT (political killings task team).
“It was actually conducted by the Gauteng counterintelligence operations. (Brown) Mogotsi (Mchunu’s close associate) has pursued the disestablishment of the PKTT, a mistaken identity.
“He has specifically sought to find means of having me subjected to a criminal and or disciplinary proceedings, including a somewhat comical attempt to rely on a December 2024 Constitutional Court judgment to have me disciplined for the conduct of a different Brig Khumalo who was involved in that case.
“Mogotsi purports to have been operating in this regard with the support of the police minister and chief of staff in the minister’s office Nkabinde and deputy national commissioner Gen Shadrack Sibiya,” Khumalo said.
