By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya retired as Hawks head on Saturday, reflecting on thousands of arrests and high-profile probes during his tenure.
A black-tie event was held in Lebeya’s honour on Friday night, marking the end of his term.
The lieutenant general headed up the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation from 2018.
Lebeya was described by speakers at his farewell event, including National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shamila Batohi, as one of the first casualties of state capture.
In 2014, Lebeya was demoted and then sacked by tainted former police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, a decision he challenged and won in the Labour Court.
Lebeya reflected on his tenure at the helm of the DPCI from 2018 to 2025 and offered insights into the milestones, challenges, and achievements during his leadership.
He states that the conviction rate under the Hawks investigations is testimony to the ongoing work of ridding the country of syndicates, which include cash-in-transit heists, drug and human trafficking, and illegal mining.
“The correctional services facilities are overflowing. On a weekly basis, the police will be briefing the public about the number of arrests that are affecting what they call Operation Shanella, which I think now they are in Shanella too. So, while there is a crime, which crime is happening in every other country, and in our situation, we are releasing these crime statistics, we are transparent, whereas in other jurisdictions, they are not doing that.”
“On gender-based violence (GBV) and cases like the death of Olorato Mongale, whose body was dumped at Lombardy West, north of Johannesburg, Lebeya has expressed confidence the SAPS are doing a great job in bringing those responsible to book.
“I’m confident that they have got the capacity. They have got the family violence and child protection and sexual offences unit. They also have organised crime, and they have crime intelligence. When you combine all of these skills, you will be able to find the perpetrator. What we would have loved is that they should be arrested before they committed the first crime. It’s unfortunate that they have committed a crime, but one can rest assured that whoever committed these crimes will be caught.”
Deputy National Head, Siphesihle Nkosi will be acting as the National Head.
Lebeya began working in the SAPS at the Sophiatown Police Station on 12 May 1984 and said he aspired to be a mechanical engineer, but his application to the SAPS Benoni Mechanical School was unsuccessful. Over the years he worked at Hillbrow SAPS in Crime Prevention and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the house-breaking and theft unit.
He was later transferred to investigate more serious cases such as murders, robberies, bribery, forgery, uttering and fraud.
Lebeya went on to establish the Johannesburg North Fraud Section which was based at Sandton police station. In January 2000, he was appointed the Provincial Head of Specialised Investigations in Gauteng Province and by November 2000, he was appointed the Provincial Head of Detective Service in Gauteng on the rank of Assistant Commissioner, the current Major General rank.
In his academic pursuit, Lebeya completed a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and by 2006 was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. Lebeya also pursued a Doctorate degree which was conferred in the field of Law, Doctor of Laws (LLD) in 2012 on the topic of “Understanding Organised Crime”. One of his crowning moments came in June 2018, when he was appointed as the National Head of the DPCI.