A 38-year-old man has been arrested after a TikTok video in which he allegedly insulted KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and called for violence.
The man was arrested on Sunday, 1 November, at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu after police traced him there. He faces charges of crimen injuria and inciting violence and is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 2 November.
Police say the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Task Team opened an investigation after reviewing the video. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said investigators believed the post contained criminal elements.
“After realising that the suspect’s TikTok rant contained criminal elements of crimen injuria and incitement of violence, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Task Team opened a case for investigation,” police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said.
The video was directed at Mkhwanazi, the province’s top police officer. Details circulated about the post say the man accused the commissioner of doing nothing while people taking part in marches were allegedly being brutalised by police officers. The video also allegedly called for violence.
The charges do not amount to a finding of guilt. The case must now proceed through the courts, where the allegations will be tested.
Crimen injuria is a common-law offence that concerns a serious and unlawful attack on another person’s dignity or privacy. To prove it, prosecutors must show that the accused intended to impair the complainant’s dignity and that a reasonable person would regard the harm as serious. Incitement to commit violence is a separate offence involving the urging or encouragement of others to carry out violent acts.
The arrest brings renewed attention to the use of social media to target senior public figures. It also comes months after Mkhwanazi became involved in a separate dispute over statements posted online.
In February, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban ordered security company owner Calvin Mojalefa Mathibeli to retract and remove defamatory statements he had made about the commissioner on social media.
Judge Sanele Hlatshwayo found that the statements were defamatory. The court ruled that a reasonable reader would understand them to mean that Mkhwanazi was unworthy of his office because he was a criminal and corrupt.
The interdict remains in force while Mkhwanazi pursues a damages action. The ruling was part of a separate legal matter and is not connected to the criminal case arising from the TikTok video.
The two incidents involve different people and different allegations, but both place online claims about the commissioner under legal scrutiny. The earlier case concerned statements the High Court found defamatory; the current matter centres on allegations of insult and a call for violence. The courts will deal with each case on its own facts.
Mkhwanazi’s position has also been in the spotlight this year. In March, he was reappointed as KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner for a second five-year term, with the concurrence of Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli.
Separately, acting police minister Firoz Cachalia recommended Mkhwanazi to Cabinet for appointment as national head of the Hawks, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation. The recommendation is distinct from his provincial reappointment.
For now, the immediate focus is the Durban Magistrate’s Court appearance expected on Monday. Police have not announced a conviction, and the allegations against the arrested man remain to be heard in court. His arrest followed investigators’ assessment of the video and their search for him, which ended at the KwaMashu stadium.