Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza has stated that frequent changes in the city’s leadership have contributed to significant instability within the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD). The mayor’s comments come in direct response to damning allegations of corruption and criminality within the department, which are being revealed at the ongoing Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
The inquiry has placed the metro’s top cop, Chief Julius Mkhwanazi, at the center of serious allegations. These include claims that he covered up a torture and murder case and is implicated in a scandal involving fraudulent vehicle registrations linked to alleged crime boss Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.
In response to these allegations, Mkhwanazi was suspended on Tuesday following an internal audit investigation into misconduct.
Mayor Xhakaza, addressing the situation, described it as a “collapse of governance systems.”
“When those checks and balances collapse, then it becomes a problem,” Xhakaza stated. “That is why part of our program was to restore order, to restore services to our people. It started with council. We wanted to ensure that there’s a stability and maturity in council because council is an important institution to do oversight over administration, even in the midst of collision.”
Concurrent with the suspension, the City of Ekurhuleni announced it has launched an expanded probe into the allegations emerging from the commission.
Regarding Mkhwanazi, the mayor confirmed that the matter is now before law enforcement agencies. “IP [Internal Audit] has done its role and then it is for those bodies to actually take the matter. For us now is to ensure that part of the evidence is actually put before the DC [Disciplinary Committee] so that everything is ventilated there accordingly, and then the law must take its course,” Xhakaza said.
The allegations also extend to the misuse of official blue lights and the alleged connection to Matala, with claims that top police brass conspired in criminal activity while actively taking part.
Mayor Xhakaza emphasized that the city is acting on the information coming to light. “We are now fully implementing those reports and actually supported, of course, by some of the information that is cropping up in the commission. We are acting; that is why we are expanding the scope to say as issues are coming up we must now begin to act on them,” he said.
Despite the turmoil, the city asserts that all public safety operations and EMPD services remain functional. Interim leadership arrangements have been put in place to ensure stability and continuity while the investigations proceed.
