They called her “uMama” – Mother. How touching. How appropriate. After all, what is motherhood if not nurturing, protecting, and ensuring your children thrive? And thrive they did under Dr Imogen Mashazi’s watchful eye, particularly one Julius Mkhwanazi, who loved his “mother” so much he publicly declared at a 2023 Christmas party: “I will take a bullet for you.”
One wonders: was that bullet meant for investigators, whistleblowers, or merely the truth?
On July 17, 2025, at the luxurious Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni’s first female city manager celebrated her 65th birthday and retirement with hugs, kisses, and lavish praise. Guests spoke of her “firm leadership,” her “unwavering commitment to good governance,” and her status as an “iron lady” who remained “resilient in the face of adversity.”
Meanwhile, barely a few kilometres away in Pretoria, the Madlanga Commission was painting a rather different portrait of this iron lady — one forged not in the fires of public service, but in the furnace of corruption, political interference, and alleged complicity in criminality that would make a mafia don blush.
The commission heard testimony about how Mashazi allegedly shielded suspended EMPD deputy commissioner Julius Mkhwanazi from disciplinary action after he fraudulently signed a memorandum of understanding between the EMPD and tender tycoon Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s company, granting the latter’s vehicles – fitted with blue lights – access to VIP protection duties across Ekurhuleni.
A Mother’s Love Knows No Bounds
Former Ekurhuleni head of employee relations Xolani Nciza painted a picture of a municipality “rooted in corruption, irregularities, and no regard for the law,” with his allegations focusing particularly on the relationship between Mkhwanazi and Mashazi. The video evidence from that Christmas party speaks volumes: a man so devoted to his protector that he’d take a bullet for her, she responding with a gracious “Thank you so much.”
What kind of workplace inspires such devotion? What manner of leadership commands such loyalty that grown men dance and pledge their lives at holiday parties?
Perhaps the kind where, despite gross allegations of corruption and tender irregularities, “at no point whatsoever has the municipality commissioned a forensic investigation”, according to Nciza’s testimony.
The Bodies in the Wake
While Mashazi’s farewell speakers praised her for “back-to-back clean audits” and her ranking as a top-performing municipality, the Madlanga Commission heard rather dirtier tales.
Witness D testified about a murder scene in Brakpan where Mkhwanazi was allegedly called to assist in cleaning it up, with the suspended deputy chief allegedly instructing that “the body should be thrown in the mine shaft or dumped into a dam”. The witness described how a suspect was allegedly suffocated — “tubed” with a plastic bag — by officers, with one later stating coldly, “He will never talk again”.
One wonders: did these clean audits account for bodies dumped in mine shafts? Is there a line item for witness intimidation in the municipal budget?
The Courage of Kelebogile Thepa
Perhaps the most chilling testimony came from Kelebogile Thepa, former EMPD media officer, who described how responding professionally to a media inquiry about the blue light scandal sent her career into a “downward spiral”.
In July 2023, three armed men kidnapped Thepa in broad daylight in Thembisa, forced her into a vehicle at gunpoint, and repeatedly demanded information from her phone, telling her she was “a problem at work”. They didn’t want the car, the wallet, or money – only the phone and whatever information it contained.
Prior to the incident, Thepa recalled that a vehicle had been following her, which she investigated and found was linked to someone with the surname Mkhwanazi.
This is the Ekurhuleni that Mashazi presided over as city manager: where doing your job professionally could result in armed kidnapping, where whistleblowers were hunted, where media officers were told they were “dirty cops” for simply responding to legitimate inquiries.
The Poison Chalice
At her lavish farewell, Mashazi made a shocking revelation about her own brush with death. “My health took a toll on me in March. All my organs were failing, and I spent two weeks in the ICU. Even today, we don’t know if it was poison or what,” she said, adding that doctors told her she would have died had she delayed another hour seeking treatment.
The irony is almost too rich to digest: the woman who allegedly presided over a regime where bodies were dumped in dams and whistleblowers were kidnapped, nearly poisoned herself. Was it karma’s calling card? A warning from rivals? Or simply the universe’s sense of poetic justice?
We may never know. Unlike the allegations against her at the Madlanga Commission, her poisoning remains unproven, uninvestigated, and conveniently timed to garner sympathy at her farewell.
The Terrible Twins
Witness D also testified that Mkhwanazi appointed private security members to the EMPD, including individuals involved in recovering stolen copper, cobalt, and chain store products. “All at some stage had appointment letters from EMPD stating that they form part of an EMPD truck hijacking task team. These letters were signed by Julius Mkhwanazi”, the witness stated.
This was the empire Mashazi allegedly protected: a parallel police force of private security operators, blue-light blessed criminals, and officers who tortured suspects to death while their boss arranged cover-ups.
Nciza was ultimately dismissed in 2023 for attempting to pursue disciplinary action against Mkhwanazi. Thepa’s career was destroyed for doing her job. Meanwhile, Mkhwanazi danced at Christmas parties, pledging his life to his protector.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
At her farewell, Mashazi urged officials to resist political interference, stating: “Yes, respect your principals (MMCs), but remember that your accounting officer, the city manager, is your boss. It’s important for city officials not to play politics. Focus on fulfilling your contract, not on pleasing politicians”.
The audacity is breathtaking. The woman accused of shielding a deputy police commissioner implicated in murder cover-ups, fraudulent contracts, and witness intimidation, lecturing others about not playing politics and maintaining professional integrity.
It’s rather like Macbeth giving seminars on conflict resolution, or Nero offering fire safety workshops.
The Reckoning That Isn’t
Mashazi has denied the allegations swirling around her. She left office with her pension intact, her awards still gleaming on her shelf, and her legacy as Ekurhuleni’s first female city manager secured in the history books.
She will not face the Madlanga Commission. She will not answer questions under oath about her alleged protection of Mkhwanazi, about the culture of fear and violence that permeated the EMPD under her watch, or about why no forensic investigations were commissioned despite mountains of allegations.
Instead, she rides off into the sunset, leaving behind a metro where media officers are kidnapped, suspects are suffocated in plastic bags, bodies are dumped in dams, and loyalty to corrupt superiors is rewarded with protection and advancement.
Mother Knows Best
They called her “uMama” — Mother.
But what kind of mother raises children who torture and kill? What kind of mother shields her offspring from consequences while innocent public servants are destroyed for doing their jobs? What kind of mother builds an empire on fear, intimidation, and the silence of the terrorised?
Former employee relations head Nciza accused her of presiding over a municipality where “there is a point where there were such gross allegations made about corruption, tender irregularities, and all sorts of things. At no point whatsoever has the municipality commissioned a forensic investigation”.
Perhaps that’s the answer: the kind of mother who knows that investigations reveal truths, and truths destroy empires.
The Song Remains the Same
As one observer noted, thinking of The Temptations’ “Just My Imagination,” the Madlanga Commission has achieved something profound regardless of whether its recommendations are acted upon: it has raised consciousness. It has pulled back the curtain on governance that transforms municipalities into criminal enterprises, where blue lights flash not for public safety but private enrichment, where the only bullets being taken are for corrupt bosses, not innocent citizens.
The rot, as many suspect, runs deeper than anyone can imagine. Ekurhuleni is not an aberration but a symptom of a system where political power shields criminal conduct, where loyalty trumps law, and where those who speak truth are silenced by violence or dismissal.
The Final Question
Mashazi’s farewell speakers asked attendees not to believe negative media reports: “Whatever is said in the media that is not true must never affect you. Those who know, know. Your record speaks for itself.”
They’re right about one thing: her record does speak for itself.
It speaks through Kelebogile Thepa’s traumatic kidnapping. It speaks through Xolani Nciza’s dismissal for pursuing accountability. It speaks through Witness D’s testimony about bodies and cover-ups. It speaks through Mkhwanazi’s Christmas party pledge and his continued suspension pending investigation.
It speaks through every allegation presented at the Madlanga Commission that Mashazi might one day have to answer for under oath.
So yes, uMama, your record speaks for itself. The question is whether anyone in power is actually listening – or whether they, too, are too busy taking bullets for their own protectors to care.
Dr Imogen Mashazi retired on July 31, 2025, at age 65, after serving as Ekurhuleni city manager. She has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. As of publication, neither she nor Julius Mkhwanazi have testified before the Madlanga Commission. Both remain free, unprosecuted, and presumably enjoying their lives while those who challenged them pick up the pieces of destroyed careers – if they’re still alive to do so.
The bodies, meanwhile, remain in whatever dams and mine shafts they were dumped in. But at least the audits were clean.
