Top S.African policeman shot ahead of corruption enquiry testimony

A senior South African police officer has been shot and wounded days before he was due to appear before an enquiry into corruption in the criminal justice system, police said on Monday.

A case of attempted murder is being investigated after the suspended national deputy head of crime intelligence, Major General Feroz Khan, was shot late on Sunday in an affluent suburb of Johannesburg, they said.

Khan had been due to appear on Wednesday before the Madlanga Commission, which has exposed claims of corruption at the highest levels of the police force since it started hearings in September.

He was suspended in May after being arrested on charges relating to illegal dealings in precious metals.

Allegations against him include links to organised crime, the illicit tobacco trade and drugs thefts.

"(It) is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any possible motive or to conclude that the incident is linked to his anticipated appearance before the Commission," a police statement said.

Khan was in hospital and recovering after surgery, national police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe told local media.

The police investigation into his alleged attempted assassination includes the elite police unit called the Hawks and the separate Political Killings Task Team.

President Cyril Ramaphosa established the Madlanga Commission in July last year after a provincial police chief accused the police minister and other senior officials of blocking investigations into politically motivated killings.

Broadcast live, the hearings are closely followed by South Africans and have implicated several top officials of the criminal justice system, adding to mistrust in South Africa's administration after a slew of corruption scandals.

The national police minister, Senzo Mchunu, and the national police chief and his deputy have all appeared before the Madlanga Commission and are suspended or placed on leave pending investigations into corruption allegations.

In December, a key witness at the enquiry was assassinated.