North West businessman Brown Mogotsi delivered a series of startling claims when he testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry in Pretoria on Tuesday. Mogotsi told the commission that he has long operated as an agent for the country’s Crime Intelligence and that he was first recruited in 1991. He said his work as an intelligence operative for the South African Police Service relied on the use of active informants to gather information and support investigations.
During his testimony, Mogotsi alleged that AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi were recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency. He said both men had studied in the United States and insisted that their links to American institutions were evidence of foreign recruitment. Mogotsi said the king’s brother had previously opened a case in Johannesburg and that this also formed part of his work in tracking what he believed to be intelligence activity involving the royal household.
Mogotsi told the commission that General Mkhwanazi had been trained by the CIA and that he was investigating both the commissioner and the AmaZulu king. He added that certain Israeli-linked mining interests feared disruption after South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice and that these interests had relied on Mkhwanazi to protect Western-aligned operations. He said this was the context in which he had begun monitoring movements and communications of individuals he believed to be linked to the activity.
Mogotsi said that when Mkhwanazi held a media briefing earlier this year, he mentioned him and Vusimuzi Cat Matlala. He said Matlala had called him from prison using WhatsApp and was furious about the briefing. Mogotsi said Matlala told him he had given Mkhwanazi money and that he had been meeting someone he believed could resolve his problems. Mogotsi said he received other calls from Matlala in which they discussed strategies to secure bail. He told the commission that he had reported these interactions to his handlers.
Commissioner Madlanga questioned Mogotsi about his claim that he went to meet a person who had promised to assist him with the R360 police tender. In response, Mogotsi said that Matlala had met Mkhwanazi at the commissioner’s house in KwaZulu-Natal and that he had been monitoring the situation.
Mogotsi also told the commission that the gunman widely known as John Wick, who targeted Boko Haram gang members in Mamelodi, was in fact Vusimuzi Cat Matlala. He said an October 2018 presentation to former police minister Bheki Cele had included Matlala’s pictures and his record of prior convictions. Mogotsi said this proved that senior authorities had long been aware of Matlala and that the public narrative surrounding the John Wick killings had been misleading.
He further told the commission that he had met CIA agents in Kenya and that he knew the people running CIA operations in Southern Africa. He claimed he had maintained communication with several individuals from prison, including the Matlala as well as ministers and former ministers. Mogotsi said he had been tasked by senior Crime Intelligence officials to get close to Matlala and to persuade him that he had ties to suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu. He said the real purpose of the assignment was to identify criminals involved in the South African Police Service.
The Madlanga Commission was established in September after President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the inquiry following the media briefing by General Mkhwanazi on 6 July 2025. Mogotsi said he had evidence that Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo and General Mkhwanazi were planning to remove Lieutenant General Khan. He acknowledged that he leaked recordings to the media, which later resulted in Mkhwanazi acquitting Khan.
Mogotsi also told the commission about an incident involving Major General Lushaba of Crime Intelligence. He said Lushaba met a young woman under unclear circumstances and that the following morning his phone and state laptop had disappeared. Lushaba opened a case of housebreaking, but the investigating officer later realised that it was not a housebreaking incident. Mogotsi said the officer who made this discovery was removed from the workplace WhatsApp group and dismissed.
He said the late Nathi Mthethwa told him that he fired Mohwanazi because of his CIA ties.
Mogotsi said the 6 July media briefing by Mkhwanazi amounted to a coup and was carefully staged. He said his handlers are keeping the evidence he is talking about.
The commission continues.
