The Madlanga commission heard further testimony of police corruption on Monday from an anonymous police investigator who alleged that senior Gauteng officials were linked to drug cartels and criminal syndicates implicated in contract killings.
Photo: Paul Botes
The Madlanga commission heard further testimony of police corruption on Monday from an anonymous police investigator who alleged that senior Gauteng officials were linked to drug cartels and criminal syndicates implicated in contract killings.
Witness A, a serving officer in the organised crime unit, told the commission that in May 2024 after the murder of Armand Swart — an engineer believed to be a whistleblower — he was invited by a colleague, Vusi Ndlala, to a party at what he described as “the white house on the hill”.
The gathering was attended by several high-ranking officers, including the head of the national organised crime unit Richard Shibiri.
Witness A said he was surprised to find himself in a social setting with such senior officials, prompting him to phone a colleague, identified as Witness B, to ask whether the party might have been connected to his ongoing investigation into the murder of Swart.
“The only conclusions I could come to were that General Shibiri asked Ndlala to invite us. I now think it might have been part of the plan to test us — whether we were open to undue influence, especially since Witness B [had] posed a question [previously] to Shibiri about what he is doing about the corruption in the police,” Witness A said.
Witness A said, a week later, he was invited by Ndlala to another party, which he could not attend due to other commitments. He told the commission that a police colleague later informed him that two senior officers had joined Shibiri at that second event — Gauteng provincial commissioner Tommy Mthombeni and Mbangwa Khwashu, deputy commissioner in the Sedibeng district.
“I suspected that the second invitation was another attempt to see if this colleague of mine and I could be influenced. If I had been in Joburg, I likely would have gone to the party with this colleague of mine,” Witness A said.
Asked why he would attend the party, Witness A said: “At this stage, as a typical investigator, I wanted to know if my gut feeling was right that we were being pooled to be part of those people who could be controlled and influenced for the benefit of criminals.”
The testimony forms part of a growing body of evidence before the commission of inquiry, chaired by retired judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, which has revealed deep-rooted collusion between elements of the police service and organised crime networks.
The commission seeks to test the claims of political interference and collusion with drug cartels made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi in July which led to the suspension of Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.
Mkhwanazi has appeared before the commission as well as parliament’s police portfolio ad hoc committee investigating the same allegations as a parallel inquiry. He has accused deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya of carrying out what he described as Mchunu’s “irrational and irregular” directive to disband a task team investigating political killings.
Mchunu has defended his directive, saying it was a temporary structure that had outlived its purpose. His order set off a feud between Mkhwanazi and Sibiya, who accused one another of corruption and abuse of power.
Sibiya told parliament that Mkhwanazi and crime intelligence head Dumisani Khumalo were running an “elite” policing operation that operated without oversight and diverted millions in state funds. He alleged the pair used intelligence structures to consolidate influence and protect select investigations.
Earlier on Monday, Witness A linked Swart’s murder to political and criminal syndicates operating in Gauteng, implicating police detective Michael Pule Tau and two alleged hitmen, Tiego Mabusela and Musa Kekana.
He described how the investigation uncovered burner phones used to coordinate the assassination and vehicles with cloned number plates, one which was linked to a relative of one of the accused.
The Madlanga commission also heard that Witness A and other members of the investigation team have lived in safe houses for extended periods due to credible threats against their lives.
Before advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube led Witness A’s evidence on Monday, fellow evidence leader Mahlape Sello told the commission that the witnesses’ anonymity was essential for their safety.
“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,” Sello said.
Witness A told the commission that he discovered “tampering” of the ballistic report in the Swart murder. Senior police officials had said the initial ballistic report should be redone.
He said the guns used in Swart’s assassination were linked to other murder cases and the senior officials wanted to bury this evidence. He was concerned that the new report did not include the 15 bullet cartridges found at the murder scene that linked it to other cases.
The commission also heard how three of the five detectives in the Swart case recused themselves when Tau was granted bail.
Witness A, and the remaining member of the Swart murder case, Witness B, decided to keep the docket with them at all times. Witness B is expected to testify on Tuesday, providing further information regarding the Swart case.