Madlanga Commission: Witness E details alleged cover-up and high-level links to Magaqa murder

An undercover intelligence operative has told the Madlanga Commission he knew about a plot to kill former ANC Youth League Secretary General Sindiso Magaqa, two months before he was assassinated. 

The operative referred to as Witness E is currently under witness protection and has been testifying partially in-camera on Monday.  

His testimony has largely focused on the circumstances around Magaqa’s death, who was killed in September 2017 near his home in Idisi, KwaZulu-Natal.

Witness E says he was told of a plan to assassinate Sindiso Magaqa in July 2017, two months before he was killed. 

Witness E says he raised this with his superiors. 

 “In addition to informing them about the assassination plot, I also proposed some steps that we can take as the police to prevent the murder to save Magaqa’s life, and they did not want to listen to me.”

At the time, Witness E says he was undercover in a cash-in-transit programme, which later formed into a political killings project. 

Witness E says that in December 2024, he received a call from Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu, inquiring about Magaqa’s death.

He adds that he told Mchunu everything he knew, including the names of government officials behind Magaqa’s death.