PRETORIA — The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry was plunged deeper into allegations of police corruption and criminal collusion on Tuesday when a former girlfriend of suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) chief Julius Mkhwanazi testified that she had informed him about a stash of illegal precious stones shortly before stones worth nearly R15 million allegedly disappeared.
The witness, identified only as Witness K, testified partly behind closed doors after Commission Chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ordered portions of her evidence to be heard in camera while audio recordings were played.
Her testimony relates to a controversial 2023 operation involving precious stones valued at approximately R14.9 million that were allegedly stored at a block of flats in Killarney, Johannesburg. Previous evidence before the commission has linked the operation to Mkhwanazi and members of a specialised EMPD unit.
Witness K, herself a Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officer and Mkhwanazi’s girlfriend at the time, admitted that she informed him about information she had received concerning illegally held precious stones at the property.
The revelation is significant because previous testimony before the commission suggested that shortly after the information was relayed, an operation was conducted at the premises and the stones later vanished.
The commission has previously heard allegations that EMPD officers Ayden McKenzie and Kersha-Leigh Stols entered the property in February 2023 and seized stones later valued at R14.9 million. Most of the stones were never recovered. Investigators from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) are probing the matter.
Evidence leaders have alleged that the operation was not an authorised joint law-enforcement exercise but rather part of a rogue network operating beyond municipal boundaries. Metro police departments ordinarily have no authority to conduct independent operations outside their jurisdictions. Mkhwanazi himself later conceded before the commission that sending EMPD officers into Johannesburg was improper.
The gemstone saga unfolded against a backdrop of even broader allegations that have placed Mkhwanazi at the centre of a web of corruption claims involving alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and Medicare24 chief executive Mike van Wyk.
Earlier proceedings heard that Mkhwanazi allegedly received multiple payments from Matlala and Van Wyk while assisting with requests that investigators say fell outside the law. Evidence leaders presented WhatsApp messages, voice notes and financial records which they argue demonstrate a close relationship between the three men.
One of the most damaging pieces of evidence involved requests for police blue lights to be installed on private vehicles linked to Matlala and Van Wyk.
Audio recordings played before the commission captured Van Wyk asking Mkhwanazi whether a newly purchased vehicle could be fitted with blue and red emergency lights and even registered on the EMPD fleet system to avoid allegations of impersonating a police officer. Evidence before the commission suggests Mkhwanazi assisted with facilitating some of these requests.
The commission has heard that several private vehicles linked to Matlala’s businesses were allegedly registered on municipal records and fitted with equipment reserved exclusively for law-enforcement agencies and emergency services. Mkhwanazi has denied wrongdoing and has previously claimed allegations surrounding the blue-light scandal formed part of a campaign to discredit him.
Monday’s testimony by Witness K has now added another explosive dimension to the inquiry by directly linking Mkhwanazi to the initial intelligence that led investigators to the Killarney property where the precious stones were allegedly being stored.
The commission is investigating allegations of corruption, abuse of authority, extortion, theft, kidnapping and criminal infiltration within law-enforcement structures. Mkhwanazi has previously denied criminal conduct and insists he did not instruct officers to steal the gemstones. However, evidence leaders have repeatedly suggested the operation bore all the hallmarks of an organised robbery conducted under the guise of law enforcement.
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