South Africa’s minister of police is in bed with gangsters, according to a regional police chief. The South African government has fashioned itself as a guardian of international law in recent years, but Pretoria cannot even uphold domestic law as corruption engulfs the upper echelons of its police force.
South Africa put itself on the global stage by taking Israel to the International Court of Justice in December 2023, falsely presenting Jerusalem’s response to Hamas’s October 7 killing spree as genocide. Pretoria has spent millions on this case, borrowing from its legacy of overcoming apartheid and mortgaging its reputation as a beacon of morality.
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South Africa’s actions surrounding its case against Israel also raise ethical concerns. Just two weeks after the Hamas massacre, Pretoria’s foreign minister visited Iran, Hamas’s main sponsor. Soon after, the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party, mysteriously had its crippling debt paid off. Pretoria increased its funding for the case in March 2025, right after an ANC official met with Iran’s ambassador to South Africa.
Pretoria’s lawfare against Israel has been relatively fruitless, but it has helped distract South Africans from their government’s corruption and abuse. Perhaps no longer.
In a bombshell press conference on Sunday, the regional police chief accused national Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu and his deputy of interfering in sensitive police investigations, saying he has evidence that some politicians and law enforcement officials are “controlled by [a] drug cartel as well as businesspeople.” Mchunu, an ANC leader, denies any wrongdoing.
The controversy centers around Mchunu’s relationship with Vusimuzi Matlala, who is connected to port corruption, illegal weapons, and the movement of high-value contraband within South Africa, according to the regional police chief.
In August 2021, a whistleblower revealed a scheme to extract nearly $170 million from a hospital near Johannesburg, highlighting Matlala’s involvement. Three weeks later, the whistleblower was murdered. A Johannesburg court convicted six men for her murder, but the mastermind has yet to be identified.
Matlala won a $20 million contract from the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) in June 2024, though he was still under police investigation. The victory also came despite severe irregularities in the process. SAPS recommended canceling the contract with Matlala’s company in late January — but not before Matlala was paid nearly $3 million.
In December 2024, 100 well-armed police officers raided Matlala’s home. Matlala was furious.
A fixer sent WhatsApp messages to Matlala in January 2025, saying he arranged a meeting with the deputy national police minister and “the minister,” presumably Mchunu, and that the “task team that came to your house and harassed you [has] been dissolved.”
This was shortly after Mchunu ordered the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team, which was formed in 2018 to address politically motivated killings. Matlala sent the go-between proof of payment for around $6,250 in mid-January 2025.
SAPS finally canceled its contract with Matlala’s company in May 2025. Two days later, police arrested Matlala in connection with a botched hit on his ex-lover in October 2023.
The allegations from Sunday’s explosive press conference are rocking the country. The ANC is demanding that Mchunu come clean and produce a full report; the speaker of the parliament has asked three committees to look into the matter; and President Cyril Ramaphosa has called the developments a threat to national security.
But Ramaphosa is no paragon of anti-corruption. Ramaphosa was the chairman of the board of South African telecommunications giant MTN when it bribed its way into the Iranian market.
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The United States has taken notice of South African corruption. The State Department’s 2023 Human Rights Report for South Africa focused heavily on it. And a senior State Department official said at a 2024 Senate hearing, “Corruption issues have been a focus of our work in South Africa.”
Pretoria’s ties to Washington have taken a nosedive recently thanks to its anti-American stance, warm ties with Russia and China, antagonism toward Israel, and domestic abuses. If South Africa wants to change course, it can start by tackling the widespread corruption in the country, particularly among law enforcement. In a country where corruption has become the rule, not the exception, it is time for a reset.
David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, D.C.-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow David on X @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X @FDD.