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Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says the National Political Killings Task Team (NPKTT) has never been part of the South African Police Service (SAPS) organogram or organisation structure and must therefore be distinguished from an official policing unit.<\/p>\n
Testifying before Parliament\u2019s committee probing explosive allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Mchunu explained that, unlike formal \u201cunits\u201d in SAPS, which are integrated into the police organogram, \u201ctask teams\u201d are temporary and operate outside the official structure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a practice in SAPS, units become part of the organogram. That includes, for instance, the Cato Manor unit. But this one, the political task team, has never been part of the organigram,\u201d Mchunu said.<\/p>\n
He added that this status remained unchanged even after he became Minister of Police in 2019. \u201cWe reviewed the organisational structure and aligned it with SAPS\u2019s strategic and annual plans. In May this year, a new organogram was signed off after a long review process, and the NPKTT was not part of it,\u201d he told the committee.<\/p>\n
Responding to questions from evidence leader Advocate Norman Arendse SC, Mchunu expressed concern over testimony from Major General Petronella<\/span> Van Rooyen at the Madlanga Commission, who allegedly claimed there was no distinction between a task team and a unit.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very worried by that, because there has always been a clear distinction,\u201d Mchunu said. He described task teams as temporary groupings formed to address specific issues, made up of SAPS members drawn from existing posts.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the mission is accomplished, they return to their original duties. You don\u2019t appoint people from outside, and you don\u2019t create a permanent gap,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Mchunu said he had long been aware of political killings task teams in KwaZulu-Natal, including ones established in 2014 and 2016. The NPKTT, formed in 2018, followed a directive from President Cyril Ramaphosa after a spate of political assassinations, including that of Musawenkosi \u201cMaqatha\u201d Mchunu. <\/p>\n The President’s intervention led to the formation of a three-tier response mechanism: an inter-ministerial committee, a steering committee, and an operational-level task team, which became known as the NPKTT, he said. <\/p>\n Mchunu also confirmed awareness of a 2019 study on specialised SAPS units, initiated in response to the President\u2019s call during that year\u2019s State of the Nation Address. The aim, he said, was to improve coordination and resources for such units.<\/p>\n During the hearing, Arendse questioned Mchunu on the timing of discussions around the task team in November 2024.<\/p>\n While General Shadrack Sibiya claimed discussions took place that month, National Commissioner Fannie Masemola disputed this, saying no talks occurred before a ministerial directive issued on 31 November.<\/p>\n Mchunu confirmed that he had attended three meetings that month, including a large one on the 22nd.<\/p>\n Politics<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu says the National Political Killings Task Team (NPKTT) has never been part of the South African Police Service (SAPS) organogram or organisation structure and must therefore be distinguished from an official policing unit. Testifying before Parliament\u2019s committee probing explosive allegations by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Mchunu explained that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":255715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2488,356,19254,2067,10682,11590],"class_list":["post-255714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-group","tag-mchunu","tag-pktt","tag-saps","tag-temporary","tag-unit"],"yoast_head":"\n