South Africa's top police officer faces charges in a widening corruption
scandal
[March 26, 2026]
By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and MICHELLE GUMEDE
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's top police officer was served with a
warrant Wednesday and is facing charges in relation to a widening
corruption scandal that saw 12 other senior officers arrested by
anti-graft investigators.
National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola was served with a warrant
ordering him to appear in court next month in relation to an
investigation into an allegedly corrupt contract to provide health and
well-being services to police officers, police spokesperson Brig.
Athlenda Mathe said at a court appearance for the other officers.
The high-profile arrests and warrant came while an inquiry continues
into alleged high-level corruption in the South African police.
Parliament also held special hearings into the allegations.
A sprawling police corruption scandal
The judge-led inquiry was ordered last year by South African President
Cyril Ramaphosa, who had already suspended the police minister in what
is becoming a major scandal for Africa's leading economy.
Mathe declined to detail the charges against Masemola but said “he has
taken note of the charges brought against him, and he has pledged his
full cooperation.” He was ordered to appear in court on April 21, Mathe
said.
A spokesperson for state prosecutors also declined to say what the
charges against Masemola were but confirmed they were in relation to the
contract that the 12 other officers were arrested over.
Ramaphosa's office said in a statement he was aware of prosecutors
issuing the warrant against Masemola and was committed to ensuring the
police force “remains stable and able to continue fulfilling its
policing mandate.”
Ramaphosa deployed the army on the streets in some areas in South Africa
earlier this month to help with law enforcement in what was viewed as an
admission that police were failing to reign in the country’s high rates
of violent crime.
12 senior officers face corruption charges
The other senior police officers were arrested in an operation by the
National Prosecuting Authority's anti-corruption unit, reportedly at the
police's national headquarters in the capital, Pretoria. They face
charges of corruption and fraud, prosecutors said.
The officers, one of them a major-general and several of them brigadiers
— some of the highest ranks in the South African police — were all
released on bail.
They are accused of corruption alongside a businessman who allegedly has
links to organized crime and whose company is at the heart of the
multi-million-dollar police contract that was ultimately canceled.
The businessman, Vusi “Cat” Matlala, is one of several witnesses who has
testified on alleged links between senior police officers and crime
bosses. He testified at the Parliament hearings that he had paid a
former police minister around $30,000 for what he said was protection.
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An alleged crime boss Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala, left, with business
associate, James Murray appearing at the magistrate court in
Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, on fraud and
corruption charges. (AP Photo)
Matlala was already under arrest and is being held at a
maximum-security prison on attempted murder and other charges in an
unrelated case.
South Africa has been beset by corruption
South Africa has been beset by corruption scandals for years, often
involving large government contracts. Former President Jacob Zuma
resigned in 2018 because of graft allegations and his time in charge
was marred by a period of widespread corruption at state-owned
companies.
Many of those cases are still being investigated.
Allegations of wrongdoing against the police are also not new.
Former Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi was convicted of corruption
in 2010. He died in 2015.
This inquiry into police corruption stems from a dramatic press
conference last year by a provincial police officer, who accused
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and senior police officers of having
links with organized crime. KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner
Lt-Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi claimed that criminal syndicates and drug
cartels had infiltrated the police at the highest level.
Mchunu has been accused of illegally ordering the closure of a
specialist crime-fighting unit in order to protect alleged criminals
that it was investigating.
Some startling revelations
The inquiry and the Parliamentary hearings into alleged police
wrongdoing have often been broadcast live on national news stations
and have included some startling revelations, including by one of
the senior police officers who was arrested and is facing corruption
charges.
Brig. Rachel Matjeng testified to having a romantic relationship
with Matlala, who has a long history of criminal charges that were
dropped, but denied she took money and gifts from him for corrupt
reasons. She said he gave her money and gifts — which included a
weight loss drug — only because they were lovers.
An interim report from the police corruption inquiry, which is due
to continue next month, has been handed to Ramaphosa and recommends
criminal investigations against several other police officers.
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