Retired SAPS General Mulangi Mphego Arrested After Raid Links Him To Mfazi Murder— Ammunition Seized

Hawks officers moved through the gate of Major General Mulangi Mphego’s Pretoria property at dawn on Monday, armed with a search warrant connecting the retired Crime Intelligence chief directly to one of South Africa’s most explosive active homicide probes.

Investigators recovered South African Police Service ammunition during the raid — rounds Mphego, as a former civilian, allegedly had no legal right to possess. Detectives linked the seizure to the ongoing inquiry into the death of Lieutenant General Sindile Mfazi, the Deputy National Commissioner of Crime Detection, whose killing sent tremors through the highest corridors of law enforcement earlier this year. Mphego now faces a custody process that his legal representatives have not yet publicly challenged.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation confirmed the arrest without elaborating on precise charges, noting that forensic analysis of the recovered items remained incomplete. Spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale stated that the accused would appear before a Pretoria Magistrate’s Court shortly, adding that additional suspects had not been ruled out. SAPS National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola declined a direct comment, pointing reporters toward the Hawks’ formal disclosure.

Mfazi was, at the time of his violent passing, leading a sensitive financial probe into the Secret Services Account — a fund used to procure R1.6 billion worth of Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment during the height of the pandemic. Sources familiar with the inquiry told this publication that Mfazi had identified procurement irregularities pointing toward a network of connected beneficiaries operating inside and adjacent to the intelligence community. His death effectively halted internal momentum on that audit trail.

Bystanders near the Pretoria residence watched two unmarked grey vehicles remain parked outside for nearly four hours. A neighbour, who requested anonymity, described seeing Mphego escorted toward one of those vehicles still wearing his grey tracksuit — an ordinary domestic morning transformed, without warning, into a criminal matter watched by an entire street.

No trial date exists yet, no co-accused have been formally charged, and the full forensic scope of Monday’s operation remains classified. Somewhere inside South Africa’s justice machinery, documents describing exactly what Mphego knew about Mfazi’s movements — and why — are being studied right now. The question gripping retired officers and active investigators alike is brutal in its simplicity: how deep does this reach.