Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu is facing fresh and explosive allegations after an undercover police officer, known as Witness E, told the Madlanga Commission that Mchunu personally attempted to coach him into lying under oath.
The commission on Monday played an audio recording of a phone call that Witness E says captures Mchunu urging him to submit a fabricated statement to the inquiry. The recording places the suspended minister at the centre of an alleged attempt to undermine the commission’s work.
Witness E testified that Mchunu wanted him to falsely implicate the head of Crime Intelligence, Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, by accusing him of failing to properly investigate crime intelligence officials allegedly linked to the 2017 murder of former ANC Youth League secretary Sindiso Magaqa.
Under questioning from co-commissioner Advocate Sandile Khumalo, Witness E confirmed that the proposed statement was untrue.
“So he was encouraging you to lie to this commission?” Khumalo asked.
“I believe so,” Witness E replied.
The recording, captured during a direct phone call, was allegedly not meant to be preserved but was automatically saved by the Truecaller application on Witness E’s phone. The witness told the commission that Mchunu deliberately avoided WhatsApp and opted to call him directly, which he interpreted as a sign of desperation.
Witness E further alleged that Mchunu mobilised his political and legal network to advance the false narrative. He testified that the minister’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, contacted him with instructions on how to testify, while lawyers linked to Mchunu drafted a statement for Magaqa’s convicted killer, who is now a state witness.
“Kamogelo Mogotsi informed me there is a statement that they have already been prepared on my behalf,” Witness E said, referring to a document relating to unlicensed firearms and stolen vehicles used in Magaqa’s assassination.
He said he rejected the approach, insisting that any testimony had to be coordinated through the prosecutor and the lead investigator in the case.
Witness E described Mchunu’s conduct as coercive, telling the commission that the minister wanted him to testify “in a manner favourable to him”.
He also detailed repeated phone calls from Mchunu after President Cyril Ramaphosa placed the minister on special leave, following allegations by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of criminal infiltration within the police.
According to Witness E, during these calls Mchunu sought information about alleged victims of the Political Killings Task Team and about prison visits to Magaqa’s convicted killer — information the witness said he did not have.
In one isiZulu exchange, Witness E testified that he deliberately misled Mchunu by pretending to draft a statement he never intended to submit. Mchunu allegedly instructed him to send it to a specific individual before abruptly ending the call.
Mchunu has repeatedly denied infiltrating the justice system or manipulating the police. However, the audio evidence presented to the Madlanga Commission has raised serious questions about those denials and intensified scrutiny of the suspended minister’s conduct.