-
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola appearing before Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on October 9, 2025.
Suspended National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola‘s knowledge of allegations of criminality within the South African Police Service were put to him three times before the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee looking into concerns around issues of national security.
He was the second witness to appear before the committee after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Masemola was questioned by MPs on 9 and 10 October last year, with a follow-up appearance on 17 March this year.
With all the allegations of corruption within the SAPS made by Mkhwanazi, MPs wanted to know how Masemola could have allowed such acts of criminality to happen on his watch.
The Ad Hoc Committee was established by Parliament last year to probe Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s wide-ranging allegations of criminal infiltration, corruption, and political interference in the justice system.
During his appearance, MPs asked General Masemola if he believed that SAPS was in a state of crisis. He denied it being in a state of crisis but acknowledged that there are huge problems in the system.
Some of the allegations of rot that Mkhwanazi unpacked during his July media briefing, specifically the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team, took place during Masemola’s tenure as the top cop.
MPs wanted to get to the bottom of this, asking him if he felt he had failed the country. “No, I don’t believe I failed,” said Masemola.
Ironically, this was his response to a question about how faith and trust can be restored in the police and the entire system.
“We need an overhaul of the criminal justice system. We need oversight. We need leaders who respect their work. They do not choose personal agenda or do nefarious acts,” said Masemola.
Now, with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s placing South Africa’s top cop on precautionary suspension, the question is whether this is the start of the overhaul that Masemola himself suggested.
VIDEO | President Cyril Ramaphosa suspends National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola:
ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE SAPS AND GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE THE NORM AND NOT THE EXCEPTION pic.twitter.com/hDwo72Zn5L
— Justice-and-security-Cluster (@JustSecuCluster) April 23, 2026
