MK Party loses bid to challenge Cyril Ramaphosa for placing Senzo Mchunu on leave of absence

• The Mkhonto Wesizwe Party lost its recent court case after taking President Cyril Ramaphosa to court
• The party challenged Ramaphosa's decision to place Senzo Mchunu on special leave and not suspend him
• The court's decision paves the way for Ramaphosa to proceed with appointing Professor Firoz Cachalia as the acting Police Minister

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, covered a range of criminal activities, including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, police investigations, police shootouts, and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.

BRAAMFONTEIN, JOHANNESBURG — The Mkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party lost its recent court case after the Constitutional Court ruled against them on 31 July 2025.

The party appeared before the court in Johannesburg a day after it appeared to argue against President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to place Senzo Mchunu on special leave. The party has argued that Ramaphosa was supposed to either fire Mchunu or suspend him.

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Justice Rammaka Mathopo said that the application did not engage the court's jurisdiction. President Ramaphosa's legal team had argued that the case was supposed to be presented before the High Court and not the Constitutional Court.

Cyril Ramaphosa places Mchunu on special leave

On 13 July, Ramaphosa announced that he had placed Mchunu on special leave. This was after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi held a press briefing on 6 July and accused Mchunu of interfering in the work of the South African Police Service.

Mkhwanazi said that Mchunu colluded with Deputy National Commissioner General Shadrack Sibiya to disband the Political Killings Task Team. He also accused Mchunu of having ties to the underworld and linked him to alleged syndicate members, including murder-accused Vuzimusi Cat Matlala and Brown Mogotsi.

Ramaphosa place

What did South Africans say?

South Africans weighed in on the court's decision to set the case aside.

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Ntai Mokhitli said:

"The matter is not yet over."

Sipho Ntekiso said:

"It's so shocking for the super-revolutionary advocate and a disgraced judge not to know the most important part of their application: court jurisdiction!"

NB Good said:

"Why would you fire any person based on hearsay and allegations? The case was a joke to start with."

Themba Msooi said:

"I know very well that in this country, corruption is what is very protected. Even the president himself is corrupt."

Thmbisa News Agency said:

"There was never any legal standing that would have made the courts come to a different conclusion because the case itself was baseless."

MK Party opposes Mchunu's leave and Commission of Inquiry

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the MK Party was unhappy that Ramaphosa placed Mchunu on a leave of absence on 13 July. It also slammed the Commission of Inquiry Ramaphosa established to investigate Mkhwanazi's allegations.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa explains why he fired Andrew Whitfield but placed Senzo Mchunu on leave

The party said that the Commission of Inquiry is a useless mechanism. By contrast, the Democratic Alliance welcomed Ramaphosa's placing Mchunu on a leave of absence and establishing the Commission.

Source: Briefly News