Five jaw-dropping revelations made by Brown Mogotsi at the Madalanga Commission

When KwaZulu‑Natal Police Commissioner Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi held a press briefing in July 2025, he pointed to a businessman named Brown Mogotsi as a key figure linked to what he described as interference in major investigations and central to the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team.

Mkhwanazi alleged that Mogotsi had links to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and warned that his role signalled wider efforts to shield criminal networks and block inquiries into political killings.

The briefing provoked national shock and prompted the Presidency to place Mchunu on leave and launch the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

On Tuesday, Mogotsi made a highly anticipated appearance before the commission, delivering hours of testimony that combined personal accounts, untested allegations and claims reaching into the upper ranks of policing and national politics.

He described work inside crime intelligence, suggested that senior police officials received large payments and alleged that the CIA had infiltrated the upper echelons of the KwaZulu‑Natal SAPS and the Zulu royal household.

Here are five startling allegations made by Mogotsi on day‑one of his appearance before the Madlanga Commission:

1. Police crime‑intelligence agent

Mogotsi claimed that he was a crime‑intelligence agent working undercover, through a handler, to gain information about South Africa’s underworld. He told the commission he has been an SAPS informant since 1999.

He said he acted as an uMkhonto we Sizwe operative and later worked inside crime intelligence, and admitted serving as a recruited police contact agent.

He testified that he tricked the KwaZulu‑Natal Police Commissioner, Lt Gen Mkhwanazi, into believing he was an SAPS infiltrator, while in fact he was operating as a crime‑intelligence agent mandated to investigate the commissioner himself.

2. Cat Matlala bribed top cops

Mogotsi told the commission that Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala claimed to have bribed Mkhwanazi at his Umhlanga Ridge residence in July.

He also claimed he concurrently probed Matlala on this claim, saying Matlala allegedly confessed to him that he paid Mkhwanazi money to solve his problems.

Mogotsi further alleged that National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola expected R25 million, with R5 million already paid, and that Cele allegedly demanded a further R8 million.

He claimed that Cele and Masemola plotted to bring Cele back and dismiss suspended Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.

3. Why Nathi Mthethwa removed Mkhwanazi

Mogotsi claimed that the late South Africa’s ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, a former Police Minister, had told him that he removed Mkhwanazi as acting national police commissioner on the suspicion that he might have been a CIA agent.

4. Cat Matlala is “John Wick”

Mogotsi alleged that the figure named “John Wick” by Mamelodi residents during a wave of violence in 2021 was alleged crime kingpin Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

The name “John Wick” was used in the Pretoria township in 2021, when a man who moved in the shadows allegedly targeted members of the Boko Haram criminal gang in what was believed to be a wave of vigilante killings in Mamelodi.

Mogotsi claims there is concrete evidence identifying Matlala as the man behind the so‑called John Wick attacks and that former Police Minister Bheki Cele knew that Matlala was involved.

5. Lt‑Gen Mkhwanazi and King Misuzulu are CIA recruits

Among the more controversial allegations made by Mogotsi is that KwaZulu‑Natal Police Commissioner Lt‑Gen Mkhwanazi and Zulu King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini were recruited by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Mogotsi said he obtained information from one of his sources that Misuzulu and Mkhwanazi were recruited by and actively worked for the CIA.

He said this was because Misuzulu had been living in the United States and that Mkhwanazi often claimed that he was “trained by the Americans”.

He confirmed to the commission that his source had not given any information to support his allegation. In addition, he alleged that Mkhwanazi sent members of the Political Killings Task Team to intimidate, harass and attempt to kill members of the Royal House associated with AmaZulu Prince Simakade.

Asked by evidence‑leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson if his source had given him any information to support his allegation that General Mkhwanazi and King Misuzulu were CIA agents, Mogotsi replied: “You see, when information came, commissioners, it further talks to the treatment, with the combination of General Mkhwanazi and King Misuzulu, how they treated the brother of King Misuzulu, Prince Simakade.”

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