By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry has heard a detailed testimony on the complex, time-consuming and costly process of identifying firearms and linking them to crimes.
Mishack Mkhabela, the SAPS National head of ballistics, took the witness stand on Monday.
The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry is investigating allegations of collusion and corruption between politicians, senior police, prosecutors, intelligence operatives, and elements of the judiciary, levelled by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
He said once bullet and cartridge specimens are collected after the firearm identification process, the next phase is the database storage.
During this stage, digital images and associated data are stored in a central database capable of holding hundreds or thousands of pieces of evidence.
Once the automated comparison is completed, analysts enter a manual process called the ‘viewing stage’.
This is a process analyst who will come and sit in front of the system and view all the candidates that the system has identified as possible hits. And if they’re satisfied that there are similarities indeed, then they will make a printout of those images and then request the physical specimens in the form of a case file for them to be compared manually through a comparison microscope,” Mkhabela explained.
He added that turnaround time for cartridges to be digitally scanned and potentially linked to other crimes could be slowed by administrative procedures and limited resources.
Mkhabela also admitted the case file of the murder of Armand Swart – a Vereeniging engineer believed to be a whistleblower – had multiple errors.
He 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 AK47 cartridges were fired from this firearm, “Mkhabele said.
“The finding of the 15 AK47 cartridge casings was not done. Upon receiving their complaint, I investigated the complaint and it was revealed that the analyst’s report was wrong.
“The mistakes were glaring. It cannot be interpreted as tampering. When he transferred the ballistic results into the affidavit, there were errors made with the paragraphs,” said Mkhabela.
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.
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.