MADLANGA COMMISSION: Bombshell testimony implicates Mchunu in alleged bid to target Mkhwanazi

Lieutenant Colonel Deendadayalan (Deena) Govender’s sensational testimony has placed sidelined police minister Senzo Mchunu at the centre of allegations that he was part of an effort to pressure a witness into implicating KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

On the afternoon of Friday, 21 August 2026, Lieutenant Colonel Deendadayalan (Deena) Govender, attached to the Hawks and commander of the KwaZulu-Natal police cash-in-transit (CIT) task team, entered the witness box — and with that, the Madlanga Commission entered new and potentially more politically charged territory.

Govender’s testimony followed the eye-opening three-day appearance of National Coloured Congress MP Fadiel Adams, whose evidence raised questions about a second affidavit allegedly obtained by Investigating Directorate Against Corruption chief investigator Dylan Perumal during a late-night visit to Adams’ home.

Then Govender dropped a bombshell of his own. He told the commission: “It is my respectful view and submission that I am being used as a pawn to discredit Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi.”

Govender’s allegations open another front in the alleged increasingly bitter conflict between Mkhwanazi and sidelined police minister Senzo Mchunu. The Lieutenant Colonel claimed he had been pressured to tell the commission that he had acted on Mkhwanazi’s instructions in relation to police shootings and was threatened with arrest, denial of bail and even poisoning if he refused to cooperate.

The allegations are particularly significant against the backdrop of Mkhwanazi’s earlier claims that Mchunu, who has been put on special leave, ordered the disbandment of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), allegedly to protect criminal syndicates.

Govender’s testimony before the Madlanga Commission on Friday shifted the focus from the alleged manipulation of an investigation to claims that he was being used to build a case against KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Mkhwanazi.

According to Govender, the episode began on 13 August 2026, when he was approached to take part in an informal meeting outside Ipid’s (Independent Police Investigative Unit) offices in Durban. He claimed he was told to “protect” himself by telling the commission that he had acted on Mkhwanazi’s instructions on police shootings, and that police officers, drug dealers and politicians wanted him to “throw him under the bus”.

The allegations took a more serious turn when Govender said he had been contacted by Mavuso Ntandane, whom he described as an acquaintance of sidelined police minister Mchunu, and invited to a meeting.

That meeting took place on Thursday, 21 August 2026. At that meeting, Mavuso made a call to the police minister.