Senzo Mchunu “Will Not Go Down Without a Fight”

Suspended Police Minister Planning to Challenge Adverse Findings

Suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu faces mounting pressure from all sides — but he and his supporters insist he will fight to the end, even as opposition parties, the courts, and analysts say his political career is doomed.

By CHRIS MAKHAYE

Mchunu was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa on full pay following allegations made by Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during his explosive 6 July 2025 press conference.

Ramaphosa’s Dilemma

Acting Minister Feroz Cachalia has since taken over the role, supported by two deputies. Ramaphosa has come under fire for keeping Mchunu on full perks — including taxpayer-funded salary, luxury vehicles, access to bodyguards and state housing — while insisting he will only act once all investigating and inquiry agencies have completed their work.

Ad Hoc Committee Clash

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Senior Counsel Norman Arendse, the Ad Hoc Committee’s evidence leader, was blunt this week, saying that Mchunu lied to Parliament when he claimed he had consulted the President before disbanding the Political Killings Task Team and that there was credence to the allegations made KZN Police Commissioner Lt-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi during the explosive 6 July 2025 press conference.

 But Mchunu’s spokesman, Sthembiso Mshengu, rejected this assertion, saying that Mchunu would state his side of the story when the time is right.“What we heard this week was merely Arendse’s submission to the Ad Hoc Committee. The committee will still consider the document and decide on it, before submitting its own report to the National Assembly to determine whether or not to adopt it.”

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Mchunu played a critical role in CR17 campaign to elect Ramaphosa to succeed former president Jacob Zuma as ANC and the country’s leader. He is said to have used the same network to start lobbying for his own presidential ambitions and some say this is when he was trapped. After that allegations of him working in concert with criminal networks surfaced. His supporters say these allegations were aimed at curtailing his political career.

Despite allegations denting his ambitions, Mchunu’s team remains defiant. Mshengu insists: “Mchunu believes that the processes — whether Ad Hoc, Madlanga, or ANC internal — will exonerate him or find nothing against him. The Integrity Committee has not yet provided any update as yet. Mchunu would answer everything once these processes have been concluded.”

But another Mchunu confidante, an ANC KZN regional leader, was less coy and more emphatic: “Mchunu will not go down without a fight. If his chances were high before the July 5 press conference, they are still high even now. The ANC nomination processes have not yet opened, and we believe anything can still happen.”

"Immediate" Effect

Opposition parties have sharpened their attacks. COPE says Ramaphosa must fire Mchunu immediately, calling his actions “poor judgment” and a “serious dereliction of duty.” EFF leader Julius Malema has demanded Mchunu’s removal from what he calls Ramaphosa’s “bloated cabinet,” along with efforts to recover public funds paid to him while on special leave.

The MK Party went to the Pretoria High Court to challenge Ramaphosa’s decision to keep Mchunu in his position while probes were underway. The case was dismissed on 10 December 2025, with the court ruling that Ramaphosa’s suspension of Mchunu was lawful and finding no constitutional violations. The MK Party has since announced it will challenge the ruling further.

Career ‘Doomed’

Independent political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said Ramaphosa will come under increasing pressure to act decisively by firing Mchunu. “The President is under intense pressure. Ramaphosa has a lot to answer when it comes to the disbandment of the PKTT. The question is: what did he do after Senzo disbanded the PKTT?”

Ndlovu said Mchunu’s chances of coming back politically from this scandal are close to zero. “Senzo is no Zuma. Zuma managed to come back from political wilderness after Mbeki fired him. Senzo’s political career is doomed. Whereas his name was whispered as a possible successor to Ramaphosa before the Mkhwanazi revelations, now the question being asked is why is he still keeping the government perks, the bodyguards and state house. Nobody ever mentions his political chances.” TQ

Side Bar

"Immediately" Now Has A New Meaning

The Oxford English Dictionary defines immediately as “occurring or done at once; instant.” On 31 December 2024, suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu wrote to the National Police Commissioner calling on him to see to it that the PKTT unit should be scrapped with immediate effect. Mchunu’s choice of words suggested urgency and finality, as if the closure should happen without any further delay.

But when quizzed about this in the Madlanga Commission, Mchunu softened the meaning. He explained that he did not mean the unit must be closed “like now,” but rather that the process could still take time before the shutdown was completed. This contradiction gave the word a new life inside and outside the hearings. The chairperson, retired Constitutional Court Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, and other commissioners began to joke about immediate, using it ironically to lighten tense exchanges. Even on social media, the debate raged on, with commentators mocking how a word meant to convey urgency had been redefined into something elastic and uncertain. In the process, immediately became shorthand for the gap between political rhetoric and bureaucratic reality. TQ