Soon-to-be acting police minister Firoz Cachalia has questioned KwaZulu-Natal police chief Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s decision to bypass reporting lines, but says rules can sometimes be an obstacle. 

In an exclusive Sunday Times Politics Weekly podcast interview, Cachalia said he was “surprised and shocked” by Mkhwanazi’s bombshell remarks, which implicated police minister Senzo Mchunu and deputy national commissioner Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya — both of whom have now been placed on leave.