Police Targeted At Least Six Devices In Second Senzo Mchunu Raid But Seized One Phone

Police searching properties linked to suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu were looking for at least six specifically identified electronic devices as part of an investigation into allegations including corruption, fraud and obstructing the course of justice.

But only one cellphone was seized during the operation.

The Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg authorised the search, access and seizure warrant on Monday, 21 September 2026, following an ex parte application by Brigadier Sipho Kunene of the KwaZulu-Natal Serious and Violent Crime Investigation Unit.

The devices targeted by investigators included cellphones and an iPad identified through telephone numbers, International Mobile Equipment Identity — or IMEI — numbers and periods during which investigators believed they had been used.

The warrant was issued under the Cybercrimes Act as part of a criminal investigation registered at Durban Central police station.

Mchunu is among the suspects identified in the investigation.

The existence of the warrant and the allegations contained in it do not establish criminal wrongdoing by Mchunu or any of the other people named in the investigation.

Warrant Targeted Specific Devices

The court order did not give police unrestricted authority to seize every cellphone they encountered.

Instead, investigators were searching for particular devices identified by technical information, including IMEI numbers.

An IMEI number is a unique identifier assigned to a mobile device, allowing investigators to distinguish one handset from another even when different devices have been used with the same telephone number.

One telephone number identified in the warrant is associated with Mchunu's Vodacom contact details.

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The court document links that number to more than one IMEI number and identifies different periods during which the devices were believed to have been used.

Another telephone number also appears in the warrant, together with historical device usage extending into the period under investigation.

This meant investigators were not merely searching for any cellphone belonging to Mchunu. They were looking for devices they believed could be connected to the alleged offences and could be identified through their technical details.

The warrant states that the identified articles were believed on reasonable grounds to be connected to the commission or suspected commission of offences under investigation.

Those alleged offences include defeating or obstructing the course of justice, conspiracy relating to the administration of justice, fraud and corruption.

The warrant also refers to a possible contravention of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act.

No finding has been made that Mchunu committed any of those offences.

Mchunu Hands Over One Phone

Mchunu's spokesperson, Sthembiso Mshengu, confirmed that police served the suspended minister with the warrant at his private family home in KwaZulu-Natal on 21 September.

Mshengu said the court order identified cellular devices through specific IMEI numbers.

Mchunu handed over a handset to investigators in the presence of his attorney.

“As a law-abiding citizen and in the presence of his attorney, Minister Mchunu handed over the handset in line with the directive of the court,” Mshengu said.

Despite the broader list of devices identified in the warrant, current reporting indicates that only one phone was confiscated during the latest operation.

Mshengu said this was the second time police had seized communication devices linked to Mchunu and claimed that equipment taken during the earlier operation had not been returned.

“It must be noted that this is the second time the police have seized these communication tools without having returned the first set,” he said.

Mshengu said Mchunu intended to address the developments and other matters concerning him in the coming weeks.

Several Properties Covered By Warrant

The warrant authorised searches at several properties linked to Mchunu rather than limiting investigators to a single address.

Locations identified in the order include properties at Bryntirion Estate and in Panorama, Empangeni, the Brakfontein area of AbaQulusi and Ngwelezana.

The warrant also expressly authorised investigators to search Mchunu himself.

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Police were further authorised, subject to the terms of the order, to search people at or near the specified premises where investigators had reasonable grounds to believe those individuals possessed information relevant to the investigation or exercised control over one of the identified devices.

The operation therefore extended beyond searching buildings for electronic equipment.

Police Given Limited Access To Phones

The warrant also drew a distinction between identifying a device and examining all of the information stored on it.

Investigators were authorised to conduct a limited forensic examination of a seized device to determine whether its make, model and IMEI number corresponded with the equipment identified in the warrant.

The order authorised only the forensic access and extraction reasonably required to establish those identifying details.

It did not, under that authority, give investigators unrestricted permission to examine communications, photographs, videos and other information stored on the devices.

That limitation is significant because finding and seizing a device does not necessarily give investigators unlimited authority to search its digital contents.

The operation was assigned largely to members of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Head Office's Serious and Violent Crime Investigations Unit.

SAPS has described the search-and-seizure operation as part of an ongoing investigation into cases opened at Durban Central in 2025.

Sibiya, Matlala And Others Named In Investigation

The warrant also identifies several other prominent figures in connection with the investigation.

They include suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya, North West businessman and political fixer Brown Mogotsi, businessman and criminal accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, Sergeant Fannie Nkosi and Mchunu adviser Cedrick Nkabinde.

Being named in an investigative warrant does not amount to a conviction or establish that any person committed the offences being investigated.

Sibiya is separately facing serious criminal charges, including rape and trafficking in persons, in proceedings before the Randburg Magistrates’ Court. Those charges are distinct from the investigation underlying the Mchunu search warrant.

Second Raid Raises Questions Over Missing Devices

The latest operation follows an earlier search in which electronic devices linked to Mchunu and other figures were confiscated.

Mshengu says devices previously taken from Mchunu have not yet been returned.

The latest warrant does not provide a complete account of what investigators recovered during the earlier operation or explain why police considered a second search necessary.

Its detailed identification of the devices, however, shows that investigators continued to regard particular phones and electronic equipment as potentially relevant to the criminal investigation.

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has previously told Parliament that investigators have the technical capability to recover information that users attempt to delete from electronic devices.

“You delete… we retrieve,” Mkhwanazi said.

The latest warrant itself does not disclose the contents of any calls, messages, photographs or other files allegedly contained on the targeted devices.

It establishes only the basis upon which police sought authority to find, identify and seize the specified equipment.

For now, one of the clearest unanswered questions arising from the operation is what happened to the other devices police were authorised to search for.