New evidence linking an alleged murderer to the NIA could damage South Africa’s post-apartheid intelligence services
Paul Kirk and Jaspreet Kindra
One of Richmond strongman Sifiso Nkabinde’s alleged assassins, who turned to become the prosecution’s star witness, has been in the pay of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and was in possession of sophisticated NIA equipment when he was arrested.
The evidence of Bruce Mhlongo’s NIA links could stand as one of the most damaging indictments of South Africa’s post-apartheid intelligence services.
Mhlongo, a former bodyguard of Nkabinde, has been linked to several murders and other serious crimes, but has consistently escaped conviction – in many instances by turning state witness.
This week it emerged that when Mhlongo was arrested in August 1999 by the investigating directorate (organised crime and public safety) for the murder of Nkabinde, he was found to be in possession of a state-of-the-art recording device. According to investigators, the equipment was sourced to the NIA.
Sources within the directorate also said this week that, while Mhlongo was not a full-time agent, it appeared he had been paid by the intelligence agency on several occasions.
The revelations about Mhlongo’s NIA links raise further questions about the decision of the KwaZulu-Natal prosecution service to employ the alleged hit man as its key witness against Nkabinde’s other seven alleged killers, all of whom went on trial last week.
Initial evidence indicated that Mhlongo was central to plotting and pulling off the attack on Nkabinde, who was gunned down in Richmond. Mhlongo was arrested after he openly claimed the African National Congress owed him R200 000 for carrying out the assassination. Mhlongo had even threatened to kill the parents of KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health Zweli Mkhize if he was not paid, but subsequently admitted to investigators that Mkhize had nothing to do with the attack.
Shortly after Mhlongo’s arrest, his statement to his lawyers was leaked to the prosecution by NIA operatives. Apart from providing another link between Mhlongo and the intelligence agency, this move could have also ruined chances of a successful prosecution of Mhlongo as it violated his attorney-client privilege.
Mhlongo stole the car used in the murder of Nkabinde, stole the rifles used to shoot him, recruited the killers and planned the murder. He was the most central person in the plot to kill Nkabinde, the former warlord who was expelled from the ANC in 1997 when it was revealed he had been a police security branch spy.
Mhlongo is testifying under Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act. This means that in exchange for his testimony he will receive immunity from prosecution – providing the evidence he gives against his alleged conspirators is satisfactory.
Nkabinde’s assassination in January 1999 ended more than a decade of his reign of terror – first as the ANC’s strongman, and then as the region’s representative of the United Democratic Movement. Nkabinde defected to the UDM after being exposed by the ANC as a police spy. In September 1998 Nkabinde was arrested and charged with 18 counts of murder. He was acquitted and the killings began yet again.
Sources within the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions said this week that one of the slew of cases investigated against Mhlongo involved an incident in which a police reservist known as “Nomvela” was murdered and set alight. Mhlongo was also being investigated for a separate incident in which two Pietermaritzburg policemen were murdered. In addition to this he was being probed for his role in at least two other robberies: one where fingerprint evidence linked him to the crime scene and another where two innocent bystanders were killed in the centre of Pietermaritzburg.
During the robbery of Nedbank in Church Street, Mhlongo was wounded in an arm. For over two months his accomplice, Sandile Nzimande, drove Mhlongo around.
Almost as soon as his arm healed Mhlongo turned Nzimande over to the police, investigators said this week. Nzimande was driving a stolen car at the time and Mhlongo wanted to claim a reward from the police. In every case Mhlongo escaped prosecution after informing on his accomplices, police sources confirmed.
The Mail & Guardian can reveal that, at the time Mhlongo was made a Section 204 witness, Minister of Justice Penuell Maduna faxed the investigating directorate and queried why Mhlongo, once labelled one of South Africa’s most dangerous criminals, was being granted immunity once again.