Brigadier Mkhwanazi’s pledge to Ekurhuleni City manager: 'I will take a bullet for you'

Suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) Deputy Chief, Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi, publicly pledged to ‘die’ and ‘take a bullet’ for the then city manager, Dr Imogen Mashazi, after being promoted to deputy police chief despite misconduct charges.

This was after Mkhwanazi had been promoted against all odds. He faced misconduct charges, and the Independent Police Investigating Directorate (IPID) had recommended that he be disciplined for corruption.

These details emanated during the testimony of Xolani Nciza, the former divisional head of Employee Relations at the City of Ekurhuleni.

In a video played during the Madlanga Commission proceedings, a small group of Ekurhuleni employees, at an informal/unofficial Christmas party organised by the office of the city manager in December 2023, could be heard singing “umama lo osizalayo” loosely translated as ‘this is our mother who gave birth to us’. 

While chanting the jubilant song, they pointed at Mashazi, who was at the centre. While the song was still ongoing, Mkhwanazi, clad in a white golf T-shirt, could be heard shouting, “Mama, we will die for you. I will take a bullet for you.” To which Mashazi responded, “Thank you.”

Nciza stated that the City of Ekurhuleni does not have an official Christmas party. However, the individuals in the video were hand-picked by the office of the city manager because of their proximity to her.  

The commissioners asked Nciza what he made of the chanting and Mkhwanazi’s pledge of loyalty.

Nciza stated that the situation concerning Mkhwanazi has totally changed the municipality. He recounted significant incidents between February 2023 and December 2023.

“In February 2023, allegations are submitted, and the investigation is conducted. In June, the serving of charges is stopped. In August, the meeting was held with the management of EMPD, where it was indicated that certain people are de facto chiefs of police. We don’t have the chief of police,” Nciza said.

He added that after the meeting, the chief of police, Jabulani Isaac Mapiyeye, was put on special leave. Then Goodman Mzolo, the former deputy chief of Police Operations: EMPD, retired, while he (Nciza) was suspended. 

“And then what you have is Mkhwanazi, who gets promoted. A few weeks thereafter, Mkhwanazi expresses his gratitude, his loyalty, and all sorts of things to say, you know what? I will die for you, because you are my mother. You have not only secured my continued employment in the municipality, but you have also advanced me against all odds, against all processes of the municipality. In fact, you have even gone to change processes that have been there, processes that have stood the test of time, just like that, they’ve been changed because you protect me, you are my mother,” Nciza said.

He added that the pledge also suggests that “The affinity that exists between you and I is to the extent that I would take a bullet for you.”

Nciza clarified that he doesn’t take this to be able to take a bullet for you in the ordinary sense of a VIP protector protecting their principal. 

“But I take this statement to be issued by a person who truly believes in the relationship that they have with the other person.”

Commissioner Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC asked Nciza if it was appropriate for any employee under any circumstances, proximity or no proximity, to say to their superior, ‘I will die for you, I will take a bullet for you’ unless they are a personal protector, and that’s their job definition.

Nciza said: “No ways. The only instance where a person is expected to take a bullet is in the line of duty. The person who would be expected to take a bullet is the person who protects the principal. And those people are trained for that purpose, and it’s part of their functional disposition. 

“We have those people in the municipality; we have even created a special dispensation that we call a VIP allowance, because of the risk that these people are taking in becoming VIP protectors. Mkhwanazi has never been one of those people.”

Baloyi further asked what this kind of loyalty, which is not related to their functions, does to organisational discipline between subordinates and seniors.

Nciza said this was beyond an anomaly, as it showed that a senior policeman, effectively saying he would give loyalty to an individual and not the institution and the people he is supposed to serve.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za