The witness told the Madlanga commission inquiry into political interference in policing on Monday that an investigation into the murder of Armand Swart, an engineer believed to be a whistleblower on overpriced tender irregularities at state-owned entity Transnet, had uncovered a wider network of corruption at the police station.
An anonymous police investigator — identified only as Witness A — has implicated the Johannesburg central police station in involvement in organised crime.
The witness told the Madlanga commission inquiry into political interference in policing on Monday that an investigation into the murder of Armand Swart, an engineer believed to be a whistleblower on overpriced tender irregularities at state-owned entity Transnet, had uncovered a wider network of corruption at the police station.
Witness A said that the ongoing investigation into Swart’s murder had identified another individual as the whistleblower, instead of the engineer, and that Witness B would expound on the case on Tuesday.
He alleged that Michael Pule Tau, a police detective and alleged hitman, was in constant contact with murder suspect Katiso Molefe, during which they exchanged the victim’s work address. Tau allegedly made and received calls from Molefe outside Swart’s office building, Witness A said, adding that the pair used burner phones to avoid detection. After “scouting” Swart’s work offices, Tau arrived at Molefe’s house the evening before the murder.
Witness A said after the murder, in which Swart was shot 23 times, Tau sent a text reassuring Molefe that it had gone well.
Evidence leader Mahlapa Sello said the anonymous witness was a police investigator who had been living in a safe house because of threats to his life.
“The anonymous witness appreciates that their identity might be known by certain quarters of the police service. They … would like to present evidence in public, not to be present physically, and their image not to be broadcast,” Sello said.
“They have lived in safe houses for an extended period and their safety in those houses is supported in part by their anonymity within the community they live in. If their faces are broadcast, that anonymity is lost.”
The commission, chaired by retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mhwanazi made allegations of political interference and collusion with criminal syndicates in the criminal justice system, implicating Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, who has since been placed on special leave.
Mhwanazi has accused Mchunu of disbanding a task team probing political killings, without consulting senior police officers, at the behest of Gauteng-based drug cartels. Crime intelligence boss Dumisani Khumalo testified that another murder suspect, Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, instigated the disbandment of the team through Mchunu’s associate, North West businessman Bown Mogotsi.
Last week, Mchunu defended his decision to disband the political killings task team, arguing it was never a permanent police structure and said he did not need to consult Mkhwanazi, national police commissioner Fannie, Masemola and Khumalo before disbanding the team.
Suspended deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya told parliament’s ad hoc committee, which is conducting a parallel inquiry into the same issue, that Mkhwanazi and Khumalo had used intelligence resources to build an “elite” and unaccountable policing network in KwaZulu-Natal that cost R500 million a year while sidelining other crimes such as non-political murder and house robberies.
On Monday, Witness A said members of the organised crime unit faced intimidation and threats after uncovering links between Johannesburg police and organised crime. The investigation expanded after 10 members of the political killings task team were deployed from KwaZulu-Natal.
This week, the Madlanga commission will hear testimony from three more anonymous witnesses after the testimony of Witness X was disrupted last week due to technical issues which risked exposing their identity.
Following an application from News24 and Daily Maverick, the commission agreed last week that witnesses could testify anonymously — with their voice distorted in the case of Witness X — to protect their identities for various reasons and allow the media some access to their testimonies.
The commission will this week hear the testimony of witnesses A, B and C, from a separate location, with their names and images classified.
Witness A, who works in the Gauteng organised crime unit, identified himself as a long-serving officer who joined the South African Police Service in 2008. He testified in his own voice from a remote location.
“I am an investigator within the SAPS and I am currently based within organised crime,” he said, adding that he was part of the team investigating the April 2024 murder of Swart.
Witness A testified that the investigation into Swart’s murder uncovered links to other killings and led to several arrests in Bramley and Kliprivier. The suspects allegedly included Tau and two alleged hitmen — Tiego Mabusela and Musa Kekana.
The investigation also revealed CCTV footage showing vehicles conducting surveillance of the crime scene before the attack. Two burner phones found in the suspects’ vehicles proved crucial in establishing coordination between the hitmen.
“These two phones were found to have been communicating during the commission of a crime and after the crime had been committed in Vereeniging. The conclusion of the investigating team was that these two burner phones were utilised or were bought for the same purpose of communications between two vehicles at the crime scene, and mainly coordinating their movements at the crime scene,” Witness A said.
The officer added that the number plates on the vehicles had been duplicated to evade detection, but investigators linked a third set of plates to Mabusela’s daughter.
Witness A said other police officers who supported Tau threatened members of the unit that made the arrests and allegedly attempted to run their vehicles off the road after the court appearance.
“In my mind, I would not imagine a civilian doing what was done to a police official. This was the beginning of what we understood then of what was being done to the investigating team,” said Witness A.
The new testimony adds to growing evidence before the Madlanga commission and parliament’s ad hoc committee of corruption within the police service.