Mosikili says she was ‘confused and surprised’ by task team disbanding

When deputy national commissioner for policing, Lt Gen Tebello Mosikili, received an email containing a letter disbanding the political killings task team (PKTT), she said she was confused, surprised, and even questioned its authenticity.

Appearing before parliament’s ad hoc committee on Tuesday morning, Mosikili said she could not believe the contents of the letter, mainly because of its tone.

“For me, it was unexpected,” she said, adding that this was because the last time she was with suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu and national commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola was at a funeral on December 28, 2024.

She said at no stage was there any mention of the PKTT or any attempt to issue directives involving the unit.

Mosikili said she became aware of the directive to disband the PKTT on January 2. This was when the national spokesperson forwarded a media query about the disbandment of the task team to her office.

Mosikili, who was the acting national police commissioner at the time, as Masemola was on leave, said she then needed to investigate the existence of the letter and discovered it had also been emailed to her.

The national commissioner and I had discussions on matters to attend to, and the date [of the letter] was just too close from the time the national commissioner was due to start [his] leave

—  Lt Gen Tebello Mosikili

“The national commissioner and I had discussions on matters to attend to, and the date [of the letter] was just too close from the time the national commissioner was due to start [his] leave,” she said.

She said she initially thought Masemola may have forgotten to mention the letter during their discussion.

READ| Mchunu was in a rush to disband PKTT, says Madlanga

She then took time to interrogate the matter, looking at various issues, including the implications the directive would have and the manner in which it was conveyed.

“Most importantly was that it had already been leaked to the media when we had not yet dealt with the matter internally,” she said.

Mosikili said she then called senior staff in the office of the national commissioner to establish whether the letter was authentic and whether it had indeed been received.

“It was confirmed. I was then shown that the email had been sent on the 31st of December at around 5:20pm.”

However, she said she was at an operation at the time the email was sent to her and others by Mchunu’s chief of staff, Cedric Nkabinde.

She said she then contacted Masemola, who gave her “guidance” on how to handle the matter.

Asked if she knew how the letter was leaked, Mosikili said she did not know who the email belonged to.

Sowetan