National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola has backed testimony of KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi that two investigators probing the assassination of engineer Armand Swart were offered bribes by senior police officers.
“I am aware that the two investigators at some point were told by one of the seniors that there are three envelopes ready,” Masemola told the Madlanga commission on Monday.
“One envelope is for the two of them, one for the prosecutor, and the third is for the magistrate. That is, of course, allegations,” he said.
Masemola is the second witness to take the stand at the commission, established by Ramaphosa to investigate allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption within SA’s criminal justice system.
The national commissioner said the bribery allegations were still under investigation but considered the claims “hearsay at this point.” There is no evidence or allegations the magistrate, prosecutors or the police accepted the alleged bribes.
The murder of Swart is central to the commission’s probe of Mkhwanazi’s allegations of criminal infiltration into the justice cluster.
Swart was shot 23 times in Vereeniging last year. His murder is linked to a whistle-blower report of price inflation on a Transnet tender. Those arrested for his murder include former police officer Michael Tau and two others central to the task team’s investigations.
Crime intelligence boss Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo last year requested Mkhwanazi to release 10 members from his team to assist with the investigation because the two detectives probing the case received death threats, bribe offers, and suspected sabotage within the police.
The detectives also suspected the SAPS forensics department withheld some information from them.
A senior prosecutor from Vereeniging sent SAPS management a letter last year, flagging a “grave danger” that investigators were facing after Tau was released on bail. The prosecutor said Tau’s bail in a murder case was approved after citing medical reasons.
“The magistrate, for some bizarre and unexplainable reason, decided to grant Tau bail of R10,000 and place him under house arrest. The reality of the situation is that there is nobody who can watch over him 24/7 to ensure that he does in fact comply with the conditions. It is actually unenforceable,” the prosecutor’s letter said.
Mkhwanazi said the investigations showed Tau had connections in the SAPS head office.
Swart’s case led the task team to several other high-profile murder investigations.
The hearings are continuing today.
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