It was business as usual at Brixton Murder and Robbery police unit this week. Despite the loss of its controversial commander Charlie Landman — suspended on corruption charges — the country’s most effective investigative police squad was soldiering on.
“But without our chief, it is like taking the engine out of a car and replacing it with one from a lawnmower,” opined sergeant Christopher Mukamu.
It was 8.30am and the men of Brixton (no women officers in sight) were gearing up for another crime-fighting day. But first, half a dozen senior officers wanted to put me straight about the suspension of their beloved Landman. “We are missing him very much,” said acting commander Willie Steyn. “He was the driving force and we see no reason why he had to go.”
Sitting in Landman’s huge, deserted office, Steyn claimed the unit was losing valuable information needed to solve serious crimes.
The reason? Because informants, who help to crack about 90% of their cases, preferred to deal directly with the charismatic Landman.
“We don’t really understand that if what he is supposed to have done is so serious, why he was allowed to continue working for five months and then suddenly, wham! he’s gone,” added Steyn.
Something fishy is going on, he thinks. Maybe something political. “Previously people from Safety and Security said it was okay for him to work. So what has now happened is complete nonsense.”
His colleagues joined in the chorus, complaining it was the manner in which Landman was suspended that has left a bitter taste. “It has been handled in a bad way. We want everyone to know that we all stand behind him,” argued Captain Deon Wessels.
“They said he was doing a fine job. In fact, he is an intregal part of the unit and the success we have had is largely due to his leadership.”
Landman is one of more than 800 serving policemen under investigation by the police anti-corruption unit, which has reported that “corrupt activities are taking place at Brixton”. It has even been alleged that officers are actively supporting local gang wars.
Landman’s trial, due to start in September, concerns allegations that he and others (including convicted double murderer Ferdi Barnard — a former member of the shadowy Civil Co-operation Bureau) were paid to have charges dropped against a Cape businessman.
Appointed in November 1994 as head of a task force probing the “red mercury” murders, Landman was linked to Barnard by a witness in the trial of former Vlakplaas commander Colonel Eugene de Kock.
Initially Johannesburg Area Commissioner Frans Malherbe reportedly said he was not prepared to suspend Landman, as he was too important in the fight against crime.
In May the unit achieved a remarkable success rate. Police spokesman Mark Reynold explained: “Say they had 100 dockets to solve, then the spill-over was that another 40 cases were closed due to the work done at Brixton.”
None of this impressed Gauteng’s MEC for Safety and Security, Jessie Duarte. She insisted Landman had to go. “It was a matter of procedure,” she said this week, and “of ensuring fair play no matter who it was”.
It was only after details of the charges against Landman were laid before her last week that she realised their seriousness. “I knew he had been charged because he told me, but I did not know what for.”
Duarte pointed out that the decision to suspend Landman was not hers. “It was the national police commissioner’s. I only voiced concerns that he was being given special treatment.”
She said it was common practice for officers charged with serious offences to be suspended with full pay until their trial.
Landman, however, sees things differently. “It’s because of the press that I’ve been suspended,” he said after refusing an interview.
Meanwhile, his men were eager to display some of their skills. That said, the cold spell appeared to have numbed most criminals into inactivity. Only one serious crime had been reported last weekend.
The case was a bank robbery in Sandton on Saturday afternoon, when three armed men managed to escape with over R100 000. A three-man call team — made up of sergeants Gregory Pick, Mukamu, and Mike Gumbi — was sent to get follow-up statements.
At the bank the team discovered that the witness they wanted to question was actually a customer who worked in downtown Johannesburg. But the opportunity was taken to re-examine a couple of witnesses. “Definitely an inside job,” declared Pick. “You can’t believe how often that is the case with such crimes.”
By 1.30pm we had returned to the station. It had been a pretty uninspiring day thus far. “Sorry we couldn’t show you some action,” said Mukamu. “You should have come on Friday. We had three bank robberies and … murders,” adding proudly that the unit recently recovered about R1,5-million worth of luxury cars in one week.
The day ended as it had begun: quietly. When the team knocked off at about 4pm, they remained on call for the night. No major crimes were reported. “It’s the cold,” quipped one officer.