Last week, anonymous police officers — witness A, B, and C testified that the Gauteng organised crime unit investigated Swart’s murder in collaboration with the KZN task team and initially linked the case to murder suspects and alleged leaders of the ‘Big Five’ cartel, Vusimuzi Cat Matlala and Katiso Molefe. (above) (Screenshot)
The case of 15 missing cartridge cases from a ballistic report took centre stage in Monday’s Madlanga commission hearing, where a forensic expert admitted the case file of the murder of Armand Swart – a Vereeniging engineer believed to be a whistleblower in a Transnet tender scandal – had multiple errors.
National head of the ballistic section, Mikash Mkhabele, told the commission that the approved case file and the handwritten notes logged by the forensic team differed, and that an internal investigation is ongoing.
“I noticed that in the microscope, the [forensic team] member confirmed the cartridge cases, and he’s written notes that these 15 cartridges were fired from this firearm,” Mkhabele said.
“So the only question is when he transferred the results into the affidavit, he made an error with the paragraphs.”
Swart was shot 23 times outside his office building in Vereeniging in April 2024, and the investigation led to the arrest of Johannesburg central police station detective Pule Tau and two hired hitmen, who are currently facing charges in court.
Cartridges from the Swart murder scene were linked to over 20 murder cases in Gauteng.
The investigation involved 10 members from the KwaZulu-Natal-based political killings task team, which was disbanded by suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu in December 2024 and has become the centre of the commission’s inquiry.
In his July media briefing, KZN police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said the task team was disbanded by politicians colluding with criminal syndicates — a claim he repeated and expounded at the Madlanga Commission and parliament’s parallel ad hoc committee inquiry.
Two senior police officers — national commissioner Fannie Masemola and head of crime intelligence Dumisani Khumalo corroborated Mkhwanazi’s allegations at the Madlanga Commission.
Masemola said Mchunu did not consult with him before sending his directive to “immediately” disband the KZN task team.
Khumalo showed WhatsApp messages between Matlala and Northwest businessman Brown Mogotsi, believed to be Mchunu’s middleman, in which they exchange confidential information for cash.
However, deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya, implicated by Mkhwanazi for carrying out Mchunu’s directive, denied any wrongdoing at parliament’s ad hoc committee.
He said he simply followed orders and described Mkhwanazi’s claims as part of an internal leadership succession battle for the national commissioner.
Mchunu told the ad hoc committee that he was implementing a police research study that recommended the disbandment of the KZN task team. He added that the task team was not a permanent structure of the police organogram.
He admitted to not consulting Masemola nor President Cyril Ramaphosa, who called for the KZN task team to address politically related murders in 2018 before disbanding the task team.
Former police minister Bheki Cele said Mchunu’s directive was an encroachment on the national commissioner’s powers. He added he sought a meeting with his successor, Mchunu, after the KZN task team was disbanded, but never received a response.
Last week, anonymous police officers — witness A, B, and C testified that the Gauteng organised crime unit investigated Swart’s murder in collaboration with the KZN task team and initially linked the case to murder suspects and alleged leaders of the ‘Big Five’ cartel, Vusimuzi Cat Matlala and Katiso Molefe.
Witness A previously told the commission that the head of the Gauteng organised crime unit, Richard Shibiri, ordered a draft ballistic report to be redone. He said 15 cartridges were found in possession of Johannesburg central station detective Pule Tau and two hired hitmen — analysis of the ammunition was subsequently removed in a ballistic report.
On Monday, Evidence leader Matthew Chalskalston asked forensic expert Mkhabele “whether this was deliberate sabotage or sloppy error?”
Mkhabele responded, saying: “In the ballistic language, when one is able to link a bullet with a firearm, that for us is a big plus for the case.
“A bullet in most cases is removed from the deceased so if you can be able to link the firearm to the bullet which was removed from the deceased you undoubtedly put the firearm on the scene.”
He said if the missing 15 cartridge cases in the file were an “error made to sabotage” the case by de-linking the firearm from other murders, Mkhabele said his analysis found “the evidence suggests otherwise”.
He said a bullet recovered from Swart’s body took three months to be taken to the lab, which subsequently put pressure on the ballistics team to produce results.
He said the South African Police Service (SAPS) has a backlog of 400 ballistics cases that have not been analysed for over a month.
He told the commission the ballistic docket had multiple errors, which were signed off by a member of the forensic team at the Johannesburg central police station and a case reviewer.
The Madlanga commission continues on Tuesday with a witness who will be interviewed remotely but in camera. Parliament’s ad hoc committee will hear testimony from deputy police minister Cassel Mathale.