Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, head of Crime Intelligence, testified that only one police officer linked to criminal cartels has been arrested in Gauteng amid ongoing investigations into infiltration of the justice system. He denied allegations of data deletion from suspect Vusimuzi Matlala's phones, contradicting claims by the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption. The testimony occurred before Parliament's ad hoc committee probing cartel activities.
Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo, the national head of Crime Intelligence in the South African Police Service (SAPS), provided key testimony on January 16, 2026, before Parliament's ad hoc committee. The committee is investigating allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption, and political interference in the justice system, stemming from claims made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in a media briefing last year.
Khumalo stated that most Gauteng police officers are allegedly working with criminal cartels and moonlighting for them. However, he revealed that only one officer linked to these cartels has been arrested so far in Gauteng. He explained that operations to dismantle the cartel began on December 6, disrupting the overall plan. 'In terms of this particular investigation, one can say we have one so far as I have indicated the whole plan was really disrupted from the sixth of December, when we were starting with these take down operations to dismantle the cartel from within and outside SAPS,' Khumalo said.
A significant point of contention arose regarding Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, a suspect central to South Africa's law enforcement scandal and accused of ties to the 'Big Five' cartel. Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head Advocate Andrea Johnson testified in November 2025 that a cyber expert found data deleted from Matlala's two seized cellphones during a download process. The phones were handed over by the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), with Khumalo as project leader.
Khumalo firmly denied this, calling the allegations false. 'It will be defeating our investigation if we delete even a full stop from those gadgets,' he asserted. In his affidavit, he clarified that the phones were still on because a digital forensics investigator was working on them, and there was no tampering. He suggested Idac's actions appeared sympathetic to the cartel, though he did not accuse Johnson of membership.
Tensions between Crime Intelligence and Idac were highlighted, including Khumalo's arrest by Idac in June 2025 on irregular appointment charges, which he described as a 'pure labour matter' aimed at disrupting his reforms. Mkhwanazi's July 2025 press conference ignited the scandal, alleging a cartel infiltrating policing, politics, and private security. The committee, also linked to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, will resume on January 20 with former Independent Police Investigative Directorate head Robert McBride testifying.
Khumalo also raised concerns about journalists allegedly working with cartels, echoing earlier testimony from former acting National Police Commissioner Khomotso Pahlane.
