Mchunu’s chief of staff tells how police assaulted his brother thinking it was him

Suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu’s chief of staff says members of the political killings task team who were sent to his home by Lt-Gen Fannie Masemola assaulted his brother in a case of mistaken identity.

Cedric Nkabinde revealed this at a press briefing in Sandton on Thursday, where he detailed how police allegedly mistook his brother for him when they arrived at his residence. 

The officers were sent from KwaZulu-Natal by the national police commissioner and did not have a search warrant, he said. 

“The police visited my flat, but I was not available. They knocked and banged on the door. When my brother opened, they thought it was me. They called my brother ‘Cedric’. They entered the flat — they were plus or minus 15 to 20, wearing camouflage and balaclavas covering their faces, with high-calibre rifles. 

“They demanded to search the flat without showing any warrant. When my brother asked them to show a warrant, they started to assault him with the firearm parts,” he said.

They entered the flat — they were plus or minus 15 to 20, wearing camouflage and balaclavas covering their faces, with high-calibre rifles. 

—  Cedric Nkabinde

Nkabinde said his brother was beaten repeatedly while the officers searched the flat “upside down”. 

“They started to assault him, thinking it was me. They could not show the search warrant. And then they started to search my flat upside down until my brother had to produce his identity document to show it was him. That is when they stopped assaulting him,” he said. 

Nkabinde described the incident as deeply traumatic for his brother and said the assault amounted to an attack on himself. 

“It means they were assaulting me, in a nutshell,” he said. 

He added that the officers then drove with his brother to an estate where he was believed to be. 

“Unfortunately for them, they could not gain access. Then they had to drive back to drop off my brother. And on the way, they were saying they cannot come all the way from KZN for nothing. ‘We must get the chief of staff’,” they said.

“When my brother asked what was going on, why they wanted me, and why they were assaulting him, they said: ‘We [have been] sent by the national commissioner, Gen Fannie Masemola, to come and look for the chief of staff’.

“Then they went back to my flat, where they dropped my brother in pain, terrified, [and] traumatised,” Nkabinde said.

During his testimony this week before parliament’s ad hoc committee that is investigating allegations of corruption in the police service, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged that Nkabinde introduced him to controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi, minister Senzo Mchunu’s associate.

Sowetan