Though the ballistics experts accused of omitting information in the firearms analysis report after the murder of engineer Armand Swart made some “typing errors”, this did not constitute a case of intentional sabotage, SA Police Service (SAPS) head of ballistics Brig Mishak Mkhabela told the Madlanga commission on Monday.
Mkhabela was the first ballistics expert to take the witness stand at the commission. He defended his department in what investigators of the Swart murder suspected to be sabotage and criminal infiltration when they struggled to obtain a complete ballistics report on the case.
The detectives’ suspicion emanated from the ballistics report in May 2024 missing a finding about 15 empty cartridge cases retrieved from former police detective Michael Pule Tau’s car. Firearms were seized from Tau and his co-accused Musa Kekana on the same day. The third accused, Tiego Floyd Mabusela, was arrested at a different location.
The ballistics expert, identified as Capt Makgothloe, recorded receiving the cartridges but did not reference the cartridges correctly (identified in a numbering system in the report) when making the link to the AK-47 firearm found in Tau’s car.
When Mkhabela was asked whether he was aware the report had what was characterised as “omissions”, he responded by saying, “I am aware that there were typos.”
Mkhabela took the commission through the May 2024 report to demonstrate why he described the report as having “typos”.
He said the ballistics expert started a sentence in his findings referring to cartridges but used the wrong exhibit item number when linking them to the AK-47. He instead referred to a bullet item number which was found to be unsuitable for comparison.
The reference to the wrong exhibit confused the detectives.
Makgothloe, however, in his report positively linked the AK-47 found in Tau’s car to bullets found at the murder scene.
Mkhabela said if the forensic expert wanted to sabotage the prosecution he would not have included that crucial part of evidence because it was more important to link the suspects to murder than making a finding about cartridges in the car.
“He started the sentence by saying ‘the cartridge cases mentioned in 3.4 [linked them to AK-47]’ we have dealt with 3.4 (bullet cores) and we know it is not cartridge cases, those are bullets unsuitable for microscopic comparison,” Mkhabela said.
He described it as a “glaring mistake” and pointed out that the report referred to March 2024 instead of May 2024.
The investigators complained to Mkhabela on January 8 about the ballistics report.
Mkhabela said after investigation the incorrect report was retrieved and replaced with a correct one.
“I saw his [Mokgothloe] written notes; in the microscope the member wrote notes that the cartridges were fired from the firearm. So, the only question is that when he transferred the notes, he made an error with the paragraphs. That is my explanation.”
Chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson said there were two possibilities: the initial report could have been a “sloppy error” or it was an attempt to sabotage the prosecution.
“It seems to me if you were going to sabotage the prosecution this way, it would be strange. If you look at what else he says in his report, he positively confirms that the AK-47 bullets from the scene of the murder are fired from the AK-47 that the suspects are caught with. That seems to me to be the single most important finding related to the AK-47 in terms of linking the suspects to the murder,” Chaskalson said.
He said Makgothloe also linked other firearms with which Tau and Kekana were found to the murder scene adding: “If you are looking to sabotage the prosecution, it is strange to tie the suspects to the scene of the murder”.
Mkhabela agreed.
“When one is able to link the bullet [from the scene] with a firearm, that to us is a big plus to the case as compared to the cartridges. I am not undermining the cartridge cases,” Mkhabela said.
He added that the firearms were later linked to the bullet found on the deceased. Swart was shot 23 times on April 17 2024.
“If he did that with the mind to sabotage, then his brain needs to be examined because there is something wrong with him. The evidence suggests otherwise,” Mkhabela said.
The report on the bullet found on the deceased was prepared on October 14 2024.
Mkhabela was also questioned why it took three months for Makgothle to expedite a request for analysis of the firearms to see whether they could be linked to other crimes.
The request was made in June, but the paper trail suggests Makgothle filed it on September 6. The firearms recovered were linked to about 27 other cases dominated by murders and attempted murders. One of the guns was linked to 20 cases. Businessperson Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala has been linked to some of the attempted murder cases.
Mkhabela said when the case was received it was treated like other cases. The Silverton facility, where the tests were conducted, had a backlog of 400 cases monthly and has limited staffing resources able to link the Swart case to other shootings nationally.
He said the delay in linking the cases could be due to the lab receiving the bullet recovered from the deceased in August 2024.
Makgothloe has yet to explain to the commission what happened when he prepared the report.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.