Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) officers overstayed their welcome when they conducted a verification operation at the house of murder accused Katiso Molefe on the day of his arrest, Hawks W/O Sabelo Nkosi testified on Monday.
Members of the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team and Gauteng investigators arrested Molefe at his house in Sandhurst, Johannesburg, on December 6 2024.
Nkosi, a part of the Hawks operation at Molefe’s house, appeared before the Madlanga commission on Monday.
Police officers investigating Molefe’s case have accused the Hawks of attempting to interfere with a sensitive and dangerous operation.
Molefe is alleged to be the mastermind behind the assassination of engineer Armand Swart. Swart was killed on April 17 2024, after his company, QTech, reported inflated prices of a Transnet tender.
The allegation against the Hawks is central to the commission’s main mandate to investigate claims of interference with SAPS.
Suspected bogus cops
The Hawks, on the day of Molefe’s arrest, went to the scene to verify whether the operation was conducted by legitimate police officers. Their deployment came after Hawks head Lt-Gen Godfrey Lebeya allegedly received a call about suspected bogus cops conducting a raid at the house under his instructions.
Nkosi told the commission that by scanning the scene and checking a vehicle there, he was able to verify that the operation was conducted by police within five minutes.
After verifying police officials were conducting the operation, the Hawks should have left immediately before their presence could be regarded as intimidating, he said.
The officer leading the Hawks tactical operation management section team, Capt Barry Kruger, however, insisted he had to speak to the person in charge of the SAPS operation to give his boss, Brig Lesiba Mokoena, a complete report.
Kruger told the commission they spent 30 minutes on the scene and left after verifying the operation was “legit” with Capt Maxwell Wanda, a former member of the political killings task team.
‘Beyond’ Hawks’ responsibilities
Nkosi said Kruger’s interaction with the team went “beyond” the scope of the Hawks’ duty on the scene.
“We were there to verify if the people were police, and after that, our job was done. Those people were not supposed to notice that we were there,” he said.
Kruger did not use his own discretion in how he conducted the operation, but wanted to satisfy his boss, Mokoena, Nkosi said.
“He [Kruger] failed to stand his ground. He did not have b**ls.”
Kruger denied allegations of interference and told the commission he was simply obeying “instructions” and had to talk to Wanda to give his boss a proper report.
Hawks’ divisional commissioner of national priority offences operations, Lt-Gen Dumisani Mbotho, who requested the Hawks’ deployment, conceded a prolonged presence of the Hawks on the scene could be interpreted as intimidating by the SAPS.
He told the commission the deployment was not an attempt by the Hawks to shield Molefe from arrest but for verification because the Hawks had more than 30 cases of bogus cops to deal with. He said Lebeya had called him about the suspected bogus Hawks operation.
He said when he had received the address from Lebeya with no name, he did not know it was Molefe’s house.
“I had no idea whose house that was. I assume the colleagues I gave the address to would not have known when they were going there. There is no name that goes with it,” he said.
He said on that basis, the insinuation that the Hawks went to the scene to protect Molefe was incorrect.
Mbotho told the commission he did not know Molefe.
He also addressed claims that an unknown man, identified as Mr Mthethwa, allegedly related to Molefe, was his “old friend”.
Mthethwa was said to be the one who called Lebeya and reported a suspected bogus Hawks operation.
Nkosi told the commission that Mthethwa told him he was the one who reported the case of bogus police and triggered the deployment of police. He said Mthethwa referred to Mbotho as his “old bra [brother/friend]”.
Mthethwa was also said to be linked to Mokoena.
Mokoena and Mbotho both testified that they did not know Mthethwa. When shown a picture of him, they both testified they did not know him.
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