KZN police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has been tasked with an oversight and coordination role targeting crime syndicates.

• Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi will take on a national-level oversight and coordination role in organised crime.
• He will continue to serve as the provincial commissioner in KwaZulu-Natal.
• The move aims to bring together intelligence, detectives, crime-fighting units, and uniformed police under one central command to speed up investigations into sophisticated syndicates.

KwaZulu-Natal top cop, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, is set to juggle dual roles as he takes on a national-level position to combat organised crime while retaining his responsibilities in KwaZulu-Natal.

Speaking in Durban on Friday, Mkhwanazi told News24 that national commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, has tasked him with an oversight and coordination role as part of a broader strategy targeting sophisticated crime syndicates.

While his new duties will require frequent travel between provinces, Mkhwanazi emphasised that he will continue to serve KwaZulu-Natal, with any changes to his provincial role subject to consultation with the premier under the South African Police Service Act.

He explained that, under the South African Police Service Act, the appointment of a provincial commissioner requires consultation with the provincial executive.

This means the national commissioner must engage with the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal regarding any changes affecting his position.

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“As the South African Police Service, we always have strategies to fight crime. The national commissioner has identified me to play a role in that strategy of fighting organised crime. He has the responsibility to brief the premier on what he intends to do and how that will impact my role in the province,” he said.

Mkhwanazi said he would retain responsibility for KwaZulu-Natal while also taking on oversight duties at a national level.

However, his new responsibilities will require him to move between provinces.

He said:

“As time progresses, we will see how feasible it is to do both, and then maybe have discussions thereafter.”

Mkhwanazi said the new approach mirrors the structure of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), which brings together various policing disciplines under a single central command.

While police had multiple specialised units, including uniformed branches, detective services, intelligence and crime combating units, Mkhwanazi said a lack of coordination has often weakened the overall impact.

“What we’ve been seeing as a challenge is the coordination of the work of all these different disciplines. With the organised crime approach, we are bringing different disciplines under one command so that we can have a focused investigation,” he said.

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He added that organised crime syndicates were highly sophisticated, requiring intelligence-led operations and integrated responses.

“When dealing with organised crime, once we have the intelligence that identifies a specific syndicate, we bring all these disciplines under one command structure and put resources together. It helps to speed up the process,” he said.

A key component of the strategy, according to Mkhwanazi, is strengthening oversight and internal accountability within specialised teams.

Poor supervision leads to corruption

Poor supervision has, in some cases, left members vulnerable to corruption, he added.

“What we’ve seen a lot is that members are left sometimes to run on their own, and that’s why they get corrupted easily – because there’s no close monitoring or supervision,” he said.

Under the new task-team approach, members will work within a tightly monitored structure that embeds accountability.

“When you bring them under one team, everyone checks everyone. That is basically what we’re trying to achieve,” he added.

Mkhwanazi said the national organised crime intervention is already in motion, with coordination meetings and operational groundwork taking place in multiple provinces.

He added:

A dedicated team in Pretoria has already begun analysing dockets to determine which organised crime cases should be prioritised.

“They have analysed dockets that we are going to begin with very soon, so that we can identify which ones to tackle first. Intelligence will help us with profiling – not only crime intelligence, but the entire security and defence cluster,” he said.

Going beyond local syndicates

According to Mkhwanazi, the scope of the operation extends beyond local syndicates and includes criminal networks operating internationally, but with links to South Africa.

He added that prosecuting organised crime cases was complex and time-consuming, particularly where criminal networks may intersect with government structures.

“When we take dockets to court, it takes time for cases to be finalised. Organised crime involves many structures, and in some instances, there are elements within municipalities or other entities that must be uncovered,” he said.

Mkhwanazi said the strategy would also target organised crime linked to drugs, gangs and other sophisticated operations.

“It’s a big elephant. We won’t finish it at once. We have to take it bit by bit,” he said, expressing confidence that the assembled team would deliver results.