By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) officer Thulani Magagula provided the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry with CCTV footage showing Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officers and a civilian stealing precious stones worth R14 million.
Magagula was testifying at the Madlanga Commission on Friday.
The Madlanga Commission was established in August 2025 to examine allegations of corrupt relationships between crime bosses and senior politicians and the police in SA.
The footage shown Aiden McKenzie and Kersha Lee Stols from the EMPD and Etienne van Der Walt, an ordinary civilian at the residential premises of the complainant.
Magagula told the Commission that the officers and civilian operated outside their jurisdiction, and case of corruption and impersonating a police officer was opened.
He added that the stones were handed to the EMPD acting Chief Julius Mkhwanazi.
Mkhwanazi was suspended in November 2025. (Julius Mkhwanazi should not be confused with Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, whose allegations gave rise to the establishment of the Madlanga Commission and a separate parliamentary inquiry.)
The commission also examined the alleged efforts by senior Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality personnel to shield Mkhwanazi from accountability.
Magagula also described a troubling pattern in which officers accused of sexual abuse were allowed to remain in service, despite clear evidence provided by IPID.
“There was a serial rapist in EMPD…he was still working, raping minor children. His dismissal was not because of their department. It was because of the criminal conviction,” Magagula testified.
The officer in question, identified in testimony as officer Adam Cummings, received multiple life sentences following his conviction.
Magagula also highlighted a second case involving another EMPD officer, accused of raping a child known to him.
Like Cummings, the officer only faced consequences after a court conviction.
“They will have our copies, but nothing will happen. They will park it there. So they are depending on the outcome of the IPID criminal investigation,” he explained.
The testimony painted a picture of a department more focused on internal infighting and “political no-go zones” than on protecting children or ensuring accountability.
Magagula described how copies of criminal charges sent to the EMPD were often used by officers to wage internal battles rather than trigger disciplinary action.
Ipid has known about the group’s activities for several years. But little was done about it until 4 February, when Ipid announced it had submitted the results of its investigation into Emmanuel Mbense’s April 2022 murder to the National Prosecuting Authority.
A recent Institute for Security Studies report highlights that the current fragmented system for overseeing and investigating police corruption is neither structured nor resourced effectively relative to the scale and complexity of the problem.
Corruption will continue to be embedded in the SAPS and South African policing system until the minister of police and police leadership prioritise tackling the problem in a much more purposeful and sustained way.