[2] He fled to Lesotho to complete his schooling and joined the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), later serving as an instructor and political commissar in the organization.

He stated in the report that soldiers could, "receive counselling as their [sic] lives had been disrupted at the time of the struggle for the democracy," as well as educate veterans, wanting to, "provide entrepreneurial training for those interested in taking up business careers.

"[8] During his term as Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Makwetla visited St. Alban's Prison in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where a clash between inmates and officers resulted in three deaths.

This is a necessary precautionary step in order to bring back normalcy to the centre” and, “the Ministry wish to commend officials who managed to quell down this rebellious act that could have led to a calamitous situation on our hands.

"[11][12] In the late 2000s, Makwetla was reported to have pledged his support for former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, who announced his resignation amidst corruption charges on 20 September 2008.

He began to lash out during the meeting, specifically at the MKMVA for performing “an intention on the part of [their] leadership to convene a unilateral conference aimed deliberately at sidelining the overwhelming majority of former members of MK.

In late March 2016, articles were released by the Dutch news outlet The Edge Search, as well as the South African paper Independent Online (IOL), which both claimed that Makwetla had been "fobbing off the government" to pay for his alcohol addiction.

[18][19] In April 2019, Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interests sanctioned Makwetla for having accepted a gratuity from Bosasa, a company which frequently did business with the Department of Correctional Services.

[26][27] He was robbed of his vehicle, credit cards, and cellphone, and forced to withdraw a large amount of cash from his accounts, before the robbers dropped him off at Kgabalatsane, a stretch of veld near Brits and Garankuwa.