South Africa police intelligence boss shot before corruption inquiry testimony

Maj-Gen Feroz Khan was shot in Houghton, Johannesburg, on Sunday evening, days before he was due to testify before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. Police are treating the attack as an attempted assassination, and Khan was reported to be in critical condition after being shot twice in the abdomen.

The South African Police Service said several teams had been assigned to the case, including the Gauteng Hawks, Crime Intelligence and the detective service. The Political Killings Task Team was also brought in as investigators pursued every possible lead. Acting National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Puleng Dimpane condemned the attack and said no resource would be spared in identifying and arresting those responsible.

Khan had been scheduled to appear before the commission on Wednesday, 1 July 2026. The inquiry is examining allegations that a drug cartel has infiltrated the state, and Khan was expected to be questioned about alleged ties to EFF leader Julius Malema, tobacco executive Mohamed Sayed and North West businessman Brown Mogotsi. His name had already surfaced several times in the commission’s proceedings, placing him close to the center of one of the country’s most sensitive corruption probes.

The shooting also came after Khan was arrested last month in an illicit precious metals case. His electronic devices were seized in that investigation, and he later lost a court bid to have them returned after arguing that the information stored on them could put lives at risk. That argument now hangs over a case in which police are weighing whether the attack was aimed at silencing a senior intelligence officer on the eve of testimony.

The timing has fueled public speculation, but police have said it is too early to draw a conclusion about motive or to link the attack directly to the commission. For South Africa’s corruption investigators and witnesses, the shooting has put a stark risk in view: the closer a case moves toward the people with power to expose it, the more dangerous the path can become.