ANC Moves To Pin Masemola for Not Defying Mchunu

The ANC has told Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee that suspended National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola should face an adverse finding for failing to resist what it calls an unlawful directive from suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.

The party’s submission, made during the committee’s final deliberations this week, argues that Masemola violated his constitutional duty when he implemented Mchunu’s December 2024 instruction to place a moratorium on Crime Intelligence appointments and disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT).

“He is not supposed to carry out an unlawful instruction”

ANC Chief Whip Mdumiseni Ntuli, a committee member, said the party understood the difficult position senior officials face when caught between political pressure and their oath of office – but that career preservation cannot trump the law.

“As the ANC study group, we are sympathetic to the situation where some of our senior civil servants… will find themselves in an awkward and difficult position where they are required to choose between adhering to the oath of office, the Constitution and their own career,” Ntuli said.

“But be that as it may, it does not mean that if you chose to protect your career, you are acting within the ambits of the law. As a National Commissioner of Police, in terms of the Constitution, he is not supposed to carry out an instruction which is manifestly unlawful and illegal”.

Masemola told the committee he implemented the directive because he feared losing his job if he defied Mchunu.

ANC MP Khusela Sangoni said Masemola “ought to have known” that the power to make such appointments resided with him, not the minister. “It would be very remiss of us not to send a very strong message that is meant to empower accounting officers to resist this political pressure”.

The directive at the centre of the storm

Mchunu’s December 2024 letter instructed Masemola to place a moratorium on Crime Intelligence appointments and disband the PKTT “immediately”.

Evidence leader Norman Arendse SC told the committee that multiple witnesses, including Masemola, testified they were not consulted about the directive and only learned of it through social media. President Ramaphosa also confirmed he was neither consulted nor approved the disbandment.

The committee’s draft report suggests “a credible evidentiary basis exists for the inference that the disbandment was influenced by PKTT success in assisting the Gauteng counter-intelligence operation to unmask a criminal syndicate involving law enforcement officials, not by the operational or budgetary reasons advanced”.

Charges withdrawn, but suspension remains

The ANC’s push for an adverse finding comes despite the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) withdrawing all criminal charges against Masemola on 15 September 2026. The NPA found no reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution on four counts of contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) linked to the R360 million Medicare24 tender.

But the withdrawal does not automatically lift Masemola’s suspension. President Cyril Ramaphosa placed him on precautionary suspension in April 2026 and retains discretion over whether to reinstate him.

Speaking on 27 September, Ramaphosa said the matter “remains under consideration. Have the patience to wait for an outcome”.

Masemola has said he is eager to return. “If the president calls me tomorrow, I’ll be at the office [and] energetic to go back,” he said after the charges were withdrawn.

ANC insists it is not targeting Masemola personally

ANC MP Khusela Diko clarified that the party “did not refer Gen Masemola’s matter for further investigation as we did to Min Mchunu and many others.” She noted the ANC’s submission “does not in totality say he must not return to work”.

The ANC also wants an adverse finding against Mchunu, with Ntuli stating: “The findings against Mchunu, on that particular issue, we are of the view that his actions were unlawful”.

Pushback and political fallout

The ANC’s position has drawn sharp criticism. The MK Party has demanded Masemola’s immediate reinstatement, calling the prosecution “frivolous, vexatious and malicious” and accusing Ramaphosa of using it as a “pretext” to remove the commissioner.

SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi dismissed the ad hoc committee as a “publicity stunt”. The Activists and Citizens Forum accused the ANC of allowing Masemola to be charged to protect Mchunu.

Masemola himself, speaking after the charges were withdrawn, questioned the conflation of investigative and prosecutorial functions: “The functions of investigation should be separate from the function of prosecution. The two should not be conflated”.

What happens next

The Ad Hoc Committee is finalising its report, due by 30 October 2026. Its findings will be submitted to Ramaphosa, who will then decide whether to reinstate Masemola or take other action.

For now, South Africa’s top police position remains vacant in all but name – with Lt-Gen Puleng Dimpane continuing as acting National Commissioner while the standoff between legal accountability and political pressure plays out.