{"id":95536,"date":"2026-02-09T19:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-legal-official-admits-gaps-led-to-corruption-case-lapse"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:21:00","slug":"top-legal-official-admits-gaps-led-to-corruption-case-lapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-legal-official-admits-gaps-led-to-corruption-case-lapse","title":{"rendered":"Top Legal Official Admits Gaps Led to Corruption Case Lapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Ekurhuleni Municipality\u2019s suspended Head of Legal, Khemraj Behari, has been grilled over his decision not to support the extension of the suspension of a corruption-accused senior metro officer.<\/p>\n<p>Behari has been testifying before the Madlanga Commission regarding allegations that he shielded corrupt senior police officers from accountability.<\/p>\n<p>READ: Suspended Ekurhuleni legal head denies R600k raise was bribe for shielding cops<\/p>\n<p>In February 2023, the Deputy Chief of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), Julius Mkhwanazi, was suspended for allegedly fitting blue lights into vehicles belonging to crime boss Vusimuzi &#8220;Cat&#8221; Matlala.<\/p>\n<p>Colonel Hennie Erasmus, who works in the EMPD\u2019s Integrity and Standards Unit, headed up the investigation against Mkhwanazi.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2023, Erasmus approached Behari to draft a legal notice that would provide a basis to extend Mkhwanazi\u2019s suspension as it was coming to an end.<\/p>\n<p>In his statement to the Madlanga Commission, Behari said there were significant evidentiary gaps in Erasmus\u2019s investigation, and he could not draft that letter until they were addressed.<\/p>\n<p>KB: \u201cWhen he came to me, it was about supporting the extension of the suspension. We had an engagement, and I said to him, \u2018These are what I think are problematic, and these are things we have to close, and these are the witnesses we have to get.\u2019 It was never finalised. I said, \u2018Can I speak to the Chief of Police?\u2019 Then the Chief of Police called me for a meeting, but by that time, the suspension had lapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mbuyiseli Madlanga (Commission Chairperson): \u201cEffectively, you let the suspension expire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Behari admitted that in hindsight, he should have supported the extension of the suspension.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. Ekurhuleni Municipality\u2019s suspended Head of Legal, Khemraj Behari, has been grilled over his decision not to support the extension of the suspension of a corruption-accused senior metro officer. Behari has been testifying before the Madlanga Commission regarding allegations that he shielded corrupt senior police officers from accountability. READ: Suspended Ekurhuleni legal head [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Top Legal Official Admits Gaps Led to Corruption Case Lapse - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/top-legal-official-admits-gaps-led-to-corruption-case-lapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top Legal Official Admits Gaps Led to Corruption Case Lapse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. Ekurhuleni Municipality\u2019s suspended Head of Legal, Khemraj Behari, has been grilled over his decision not to support the extension of the suspension of a corruption-accused senior metro officer. Behari has been testifying before the Madlanga Commission regarding allegations that he shielded corrupt senior police officers from accountability. 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