Mkhwanazi given deadline to submit a sworn affidavit to Ipid over allegations

The police watchdog, the Independent Police Directorate (Ipid), has requested KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi submit a sworn affidavit regarding allegations that he abused his power.

Mkhwanazi is suspected of interfering in the arrest of a senior Department of Correctional Services official who is accused of running a drug cartel at the Westville Prison.

The investigation follows an anonymous complaint from the public. The alleged incident took place in Richards Bay, KZN, in 2023.

Deadline

IPID spokesperson Lizzy Suping has requested that the Provincial Commissioner submit a sworn statement by Wednesday, 19 March 2025.

“It should be noted that the letter written to Lt-General Mkhwanazi by Ipid’s Acting Head of Investigations that the Police Minister requested Ipid to investigate the Provincial Commissioner was erroneously written.”

ALSO READ: Ipid probes KZN top cop Mkhwanazi for allegedly abusing his power

Allegations

According to the Ipid letter, dated 8 January 2024, the SA Police Service raided Ndlovu’s Empangeni home, where officers found five R5 rifle rounds of ammunition and 12 pills, suspected to be drugs, in a dustbin outside the house.

The items were seized as evidence, and Nelly Ndlovu was arrested and held at the Empangeni Police Station.

“This investigation is a result of an anonymous complaint from the public. The investigation is still in its infancy stages, and Ipid will only engage on the matter once the investigation is concluded,” Shuping said.

Rumours

In January, KZN police urged people to stop spreading rumours about Mkhwanazi.

“Police refutes the allegations and accusations contained in that vile communique as baseless, unfounded and as a cheap attempt to create instability within the police machinery, not only in the province but nationally,” Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said.

Netshiunda said the “poorly plotted allegations” aim to create enmity between Mkhwanazi and his seniors and colleagues in the province.

Complaint

On Sunday, Mchunu’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, could neither confirm nor deny to The Citizen that the minister had laid the Ipid complaint against Mkhwanazi.

Mogotsi also would not comment on allegations of a plot to discredit him.

The 54-year-old Mkhwanazi has been a thorn in the side of violent criminals in KZN, with several gun battles with police and criminals.

ALSO READ: KZN police slam ‘poorly plotted allegations’ against commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi