KwaZulu-Natal acting deputy provincial commissioner for crime detection Anthony Gopaul has described how suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s visit to a police station in ANC regalia created an uncomfortable situation for officers.
Gopaul testified at the Madlanga commission on Monday.
He said the visit took place in March 2025, during a by-election campaign in the area.
The ward held a by-election after Doshie Govender resigned from the ANC to join the MK party.
“During the campaigning, there were a number of high-profile ANC officials who would come and support the ANC candidate trying to campaign for the ANC. One of them was the minister,” explained Gopaul.
“On 31 March 2025, after campaigning, the minister went to a local police station and told the station commander that while he was on the campaign trail, he was taken to some people who complained extensively about Govender.
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“He said the complaints he had received were that the police were doing nothing and were under Govender’s control and that Govender and his family get away with atrocities.
“There was a housebreaking and theft case opened at the time. The minister told the station commander he would be returning to the station in the afternoon and asked management to bring the docket and explain to him why Govender had not been arrested. The complainant was a member of the public, and the suspect was Govender’s son.”
Mkhwanazi’s advice
Gopaul said after being informed of Mchunu’s visit, he called provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. The commissioner then instructed Gopaul to attend the meeting and not leave junior officers to handle the matter.
“I went to the police station and found the minister with a few of the ANC officials, all of them clad in ANC regalia and they were in the office of the station commander,” explained Gopaul.
“The minister said he went to different houses of community members and heard complaints against Govender. Mchunu said there was a sense of frustration from the community that police were doing nothing about Govender and his son’s behaviour.
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“Throughout the entire session with the minister, I pointed out to the minister that the suspect was not Govender but his son.
“We did arrest the son in the matter [before the minister’s visit], and there were other accused as well. The matter was taken to court, and the prosecutor declined to prosecute because in the complainant’s statement, they never saw the son but heard voices and associated the voice with the son.
“The minister was not happy with the prosecutor’s decision to decline.”
Mchunu’s ANC regalia
Gopaul said Govender called him after hearing about Mchunu’s visit to the police station.
“Govender called me after the meeting and told me, ‘I believe you have now been given an instruction to arrest me’. I said no. We were having discussions about you and your family, but no instruction to arrest. I don’t have a warrant for you, but if you commit a crime and there is evidence, I will arrest you, but now I don’t have anything to arrest you for. He said the people who were with the minister in the meeting told him there was an instruction to arrest him.”
Gopaul said he had hinted to the minister that visiting the police station in ANC regalia created an uncomfortable situation for police officers, as they did not know whether they were attending to an ANC member or the police minister.
“I explained to the minister that while we wanted to assist him, the difficulty was that he was unclear in what capacity he approached us.
“He did not respond directly to this, but it was a subtle way of me bringing it to his attention that there was a difficulty in this case, having a sitting minister in ANC regalia. It was a tricky situation for all of us, and I’m glad to support the station commander on the day.”
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