‘John Wick’, CIA operatives and bribes for senior cops: Unpacking Brown Mogotsi's testimony at the Madlanga Commission
Brown Mogotsi is expected to continue his testimony at the Madlanga Commission on Wednesday.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
North West businessman and alleged information peddler, Brown Mogotsi, will be back to continue his testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Wednesday after making several explosive claims the day before.
In testimony on Tuesday, Mogotsi made the following claims:
- He has been an SAPS informant since 1999. He worked as an uMkhonto weSizwe operative and later worked inside Crime Intelligence, and admitted serving as a recruited police contact agent.
- He said that he only found out about the December 31 letter penned by suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to disband the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) through social media and not via any connection to Mchunu. He disclosed this information to businessman and attempted murder accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala to further their relationship based on his crime intelligence work.
- He was investigating suspicions that KwaZulu-Natal SAPS commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi was an agent for the US' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He claimed that the late South Africa’s ambassador to France Nathi Mthethwa, also a former Police Minister, had told him that he removed Mkhwanazi as an acting national police commissioner on the suspicion that he might have been a CIA agent. He further alleged that Matlala paid a bribe to Mkhwanazi.
He also alleged that former Police Minister Bheki Cele received a R2 million payment from Matlala, who he referred to as “John Wick”. The moniker John Wick has been linked to a gang called Boko Haram, known for extorting money from local businesses people in Mamelodi township, Pretoria. Mogotsi alleged that Cele knew Matlala was "John Wick" since 2018, contradicting Cele's claim that he only met Matlala in 2024.
- Mogotsi further said that Matlala had told him that national Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola and Cele had allegedly taken money from him but wanted more. Mogotsi claimed he was told that Masemola expected R25m with R5m allegedly already paid, and Cele allegedly demanded R8m more after the R2m was paid.