RESET AGENDA: Bad news for Mkhwanazi’s naysayers as Cachalia backs him to head Hawks

The police officer who detonated South Africa’s unprecedented law enforcement scandal last year may be appointed to head the country’s priority crime-fighting unit.On Thursday, 29 October 2026, acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia officially announced that he wants KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to head the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks.The unit has been without a permanent head since June 2025, when Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, who led it for years, retired.Several figures will welcome the Mkhwanazi announcement.Some policing sources Daily Maverick spoke to on Thursday believe that if he were appointed Hawks boss, it would send a strong deterrent message to crooks, and he would contribute even more to cracking down on corruption.Others remain sceptical of Mkhwanazi, but his potential appointment to head the Hawks will probably rankle most with those who have previously spoken out about their distrust of him.They happen to be figures Mkhwanazi has implicated in alleged wrongdoing.‘Mind game’ vs maybe moving upTake former deputy national commissioner for crime detection Shadrack Sibiya, who is now facing rape, sexual grooming and human trafficking charges.Mkhwanazi previously implicated Sibiya in the country’s law enforcement scandal, alleging that he had dealt dubiously with certain dockets.Former senior policeman Shadrack Sibiya appears in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on 14 October 2026. Sibiya is accused of sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl and raping an 18-year-old woman. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo) Sibiya, before he resigned earlier this month and therefore in his capacity as a senior police officer, once told Parliament: “General Mkhwanazi is playing the country and he’s playing a mind game [with] the country… because he knows how to play with words… in such a way that the country gets moved.”What may now get “moved” is Mkhwanazi’s position in the South African Police Service (SAPS).A police ministry statement on Thursday said Cachalia had begun the process of appointing the national Hawks boss, which the Cabinet will have to approve.How Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi fits into policingIn July 2025, KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged a cartel had infiltrated the state. His allegations made it clear that there were two main factions within the South African Police Service – one that supported him and the other that was against him. Among those who appear to support Mkhwanazi are Crime Intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo and National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola. Earlier this year, it emerged that Masemola had entrusted Mkhwanazi with a national role in tackling organised crime. This now puts Mkhwanazi in good stead for potentially becoming South Africa’s new Hawks head.“The Acting Minister has submitted a Cabinet Memorandum seeking Cabinet’s concurrence for the appointment of Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as the National Head of the [Hawks],” the statement said.“The Memorandum will be presented at the earliest opportunity during a Cabinet sitting.”It added that the Hawks played “a critical role in South Africa’s fight against organised crime, corruption, and other serious priority offences”.Mkhwanazi and SA’s cop reckoningThe statement said the push for Mkhwanazi to head the Hawks was part of the police’s “reset agenda” to revitalise and strengthen the service.This reset was largely necessitated by Mkhwanazi himself.In July last year, he held a press conference during which he alleged a cartel, later identified as the Big Five, had infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice system, politics and private sector.Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on 18 March 2026 at the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating his allegation that a crime cartel had infiltrated the state. (Photo: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images) Several law enforcers, from police to Investigating Directorate Against Corruption officials, have since been suspended or have resigned.Senior police officers, including Sibiya, have been arrested.Democratic South Africa has never before experienced such volatility in its law enforcement structures.Mkhwanazi’s accusations sparked the creation of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and a parallel parliamentary committee, both tasked with investigating his cartel infiltration allegations.The Madlanga Commission has heard extensive evidence about suspected cover-ups and how critical investigations were allegedly thwarted.Several police officers have testified about how colleagues, through corruption or negligence, weakened key drug trafficking investigations.‘Fit and proper’If Mkhwanazi gets the nod to head the Hawks, these are the types of crimes his unit will be expected to crack down on.An advertisement for the post, dated the end of June 2026, explained what the position required and some of the duties that it involved.“The applicant must be a South African citizen and be a fit and proper person with relevant experience, conscientiousness and integrity to be entrusted with the statutory responsibilities of the position,” it said.“The applicant must also have: Sound knowledge of the functioning of the criminal justice cluster. Sound knowledge of the principles of corporate governance; strategic capability, leadership and people management skills.”What the Hawks doSouth Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation – the Hawks – tackles various kinds of lawbreaking, ranging from illicit drugs and endangered species trafficking to extortion. According to its website, it is geared to “prevent, combat, and investigate serious organised crime, serious commercial crime and serious corruption”. It is also meant to “address high-level criminal enterprises through threat based project driven investigations and focusing on criminal groups”. Several large illicit drug factories have been uncovered in South Africa, some with suspected ties to Mexican cartels.According to the advertisement, the Hawks boss also needs sound financial skills and knowledge of the Public Finance Management Act.In the broader law enforcement scandal, National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola has faced criminal charges for allegedly contravening this Act, but has since been cleared.The advertisement for the position of Hawks head said “the successful candidate” would have to “sign a non-renewable contract of not less than seven years and not exceeding 10 years”.This must be particularly stinging for Masemola’s detractors, because it means if he is appointed as Hawks head, he may be there for at least seven years.Farce claim now falls shortOn the political front, among those who do not appear to favour him is the ANC’s Senzo Mchunu, who was sidelined as police minister because Mkhwanazi’s July 2025 allegations had implicated him.Mkhwanazi later also alleged that Mchunu had been influenced to order the disbandment of a police unit, essentially to protect certain crime suspects.Mchunu denied this.Senzo Mchunu testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on 5 December 2025. Mchunu was sidelined as police minister after accusations were made that he was implicated in a scandal involving a crime cartel infiltration of South Africa’s criminal justice system. (Photo: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu) Based on a statement he had provided to Parliament, Mchunu believed Mkhwanazi had jumped the gun when implicating him.“Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi should have conducted his investigation into my alleged criminality prior to convening a press briefing and not post facto, as he has done,” Mchunu’s statement said.“He has sullied my name and painted me as a corrupt politician without any evidence to support these unfair allegations and assertions.”National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams appears in the Pinetown Magistrates’ Court on 15 May 2026. He faces charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice in relation to his alleged interference with a murder probe. (Photo: Gallo Images / Darren Stewart) National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams was among those who did not approve of Mkhwanazi.Mkhwanazi, meanwhile, in the law enforcement scandal, had alleged that Adams had “unauthorised access to intelligence information” and used it recklessly.Adams’ feelings about Mkhwanazi have not always been negative.Previously, in a statement to Parliament, Adams said that he first had “longstanding admiration” for Mkhwanazi, but that this changed last year on the day he went public with the cartel infiltration accusations.“His utterances at his staged press conference peeled away the view I had of the general as the saviour of the SAPS,” Adams had said in the statement.“For those familiar with the facts of the matter, the show of force was a farce, as the most popular man in the country told the lies that consumed the nation.”Adams, who lodged criminal complaints against Crime Intelligence officers (including its national head Dumisani Khumalo) who were arrested and later cleared, has since conceded that he may have been used in a broader policing plot.He now also faces criminal charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice for allegedly interfering in the investigation into the 2017 murder of former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa.This case against Adams emanates from KwaZulu-Natal, where Mkhwanazi heads policing. DM