Former Ekurhuleni deputy police chief Julius Mkhwanazi’s arrest warrant has been delayed after the state’s procedural error kept him from appearing in court on Tuesday.
Mkhwanazi, who is presently in detention, and Ekurhuleni city manager Kagiso Lerutla were both due before the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court over claims relating to a 2019 scam in which the pair allegedly impersonated a court official
But Mkhwanazi was not brought to court as the state failed to submit the required requisition for his transfer within the allowed 48-hour window — the notice correctional authorities need to arrange an accused’s transport, security, and other logistics for a court appearance. In this case, the deadline was missed because the request was only made on Monday.
With Mkhwanazi absent, the court formally recorded the administrative failure and stayed the arrest order that had been issued over his non-appearance
Additionally, the defense requested an extension of bail for both defendants until their next scheduled hearing on November 3. The court granted this request, directing that the warrant against Mkhwanazi be stayed until then, pending his presence.
Mkhwanazi and Lerutla are accused of fraud, corruption, and undermining the ends of justice in the 2019 case, which revolves around claims that they impersonated a court official as part of a larger plot.
Part of a wider pattern of cases
Mkhwanazi remains on bail in this matter, but the case is just one of several currently working through South Africa’s courts involving the suspended EMPD deputy chief. He faces four other cases, including one in which bail was denied.
Among them is a separate matter before the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, where Mkhwanazi and three others his former romantic partner, an EMPD officer, and a former EMPD officer face charges connected to the alleged 2023 theft of precious stones worth R14.9 million from a Killarney property.
Prosecutors allege the group posed as a multidisciplinary law enforcement team investigating suspected lithium smuggling to gain access to the property, before assaulting the occupant, threatening others with firearms, and making off with high-grade sugilite and manganese stones. All four accused in that case are out on R5,000 bail each.
Mkhwanazi also faces charges in connection with the alleged illegal installation of blue lights, for which he was granted R10,000 bail at the Germiston Magistrates Court alongside a fleet manager from the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department.
However, he has remained in custody throughout, pending the outcome of a separate bail application relating to the alleged murder of Brakpan businessman Emmanuel Mbense a case in which bail was ultimately denied.