The death of Lieutenant-General Sindile Mfazi, once recorded as a Covid-19 fatality, is now a formal murder investigation after police raided properties linked to SAPS members on Monday, 6 July 2026.
Mfazi, the former SAPS Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, died on Thursday, 8 July 2021, with his passing attributed to Covid-19 complications.
Investigators have since exhumed his body and found traces of poison, prompting a reclassification of the case to murder, as reported by TimesLIVE.
Inside the Mfazi murder investigation
Officers searched four premises in Centurion, comprising two offices and two residential properties, all connected to serving police officials. Detectives confirmed they were questioning a person of interest as the murder investigation gathered pace.
The forensic breakthrough reportedly points to a targeted poisoning using liquid casting resin administered to the general.
Parliamentary testimony earlier this year first aired claims that Mfazi had been deliberately poisoned rather than felled by the pandemic. That evidence pushed authorities to exhume the body and run fresh forensic tests.
The results transformed a closed chapter into one of the most sensitive police killings the country has confronted.
The corruption probes Mfazi was leading
At the time of his death, Mfazi was overseeing several sensitive investigations inside police headquarters. These included an alleged R1.6 billion personal protective equipment procurement fraud ring, the Phala Phala farm burglary and questions around the misuse of Crime Intelligence funds. Each inquiry touched powerful figures within the state.
The PPE procurement inquiry alone reached deep into the police budget, examining how contracts worth more than a billion rand were awarded during the height of the pandemic.
Mfazi’s death removed the official who had been driving that accountability effort from the inside.
The reopening of the case has drawn renewed scrutiny to how the original 2021 finding was reached. Mfazi rose through the ranks of the Eastern Cape before taking one of the most powerful detective posts in the country.
His work placed him at the centre of investigations that carried significant political weight.
The involvement of serving officers as subjects of the raids has deepened concern about rot inside the service. Investigators are treating the matter as a killing arranged to silence a senior officer whose files threatened entrenched interests across procurement, intelligence and the Phala Phala matter.
What happens next in the Mfazi case
Police say they are closing in on suspects and expect the questioning of the person of interest to shape the next phase of arrests.
Five years to the day after Mfazi died, the murder investigation now hinges on whether forensic evidence and testimony can withstand the scrutiny of a courtroom.
