By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Madlanga commission of inquiry into allegations of corruption in the criminal justice system, chaired by retired deputy chief justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, heard that the Hawks actively disrupted the arrest of alleged underworld figure Katiso “KT” Molefe at his multimillion-rand Sandhurst residence late last year.
Today’s witness Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) member Maxwell Wanda said that, during a takedown operation at Molefe’s Sandhurst residence in Gauteng, a group of Hawks police officers arrived at the scene.
Molefe was arrested on 6 December 2024 — a month before the task team was disbanded by suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu.
“We were addressed by our project coordinator to withdraw from the team, to go back to our offices because there was some letter of disbandment of the team,” he said.
Wanda described the scene as “concerning” and said exchanges between the two units “were not friendly”.
“They came in numbers and I didn’t expect them to be that big. And when I interacted with them, they were a bit aggressive, demanding answers, posing questions to me,” he said.
Wanda admitted that the political killing task team had arrived in unmarked vehicles, although they were wearing police bulletproof vests with the South African Police Service (SAPS) emblem on them.
He said a member of the Hawks handed him a phone with a call from Brigadier Lesiba Mokoena, who apologised for the Hawks’s intrusion and said they had been given wrong information.
Mokoena, a section head in the Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS) under the Hawks, told the commission that the operation was unaccounted for because it came as an emergency.
He said he had received a call from his divisional commissioner, Lieutenant-General Patrick Mbotho, the acting deputy national head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as Hawks.
“He (Mbotho) said that he was approached by Lebeya (Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, the now retired Hawks head), who said he has received a call that members alleging to be from the Hawks were conducting an illegal operation, “Mokoena said.
Mokoena added that he was in constant communication over the phone with the two assigned members, to get an update on what was happening with the operation.
One of them was, Captain Barry Kruger, a member of the TOMS, who was deployed to check the legitimacy of the operation, told the commission that he created a WhatsApp group for the purpose of the Hawks’ Sandhurst operation, and he also contacted Chief Inspector George Raftopoulos from the Gauteng Traffic Police Airwing to help verify the legitimacy of the take-down operation that was taking place at Molefe’s house.
Kruger admitted that the Hawks members were rude and hostile to the members effecting the J50 (warrant of arrest), and the other members were also unfriendly to the Hawks’ teams.
Kruger also reached out to WhatsApp groups of security companies operating in the Sandton area for anyone who might be able to confirm the legitimacy of the operation.
The commissioners asked Kruger why he did not contact the nearest police stations (Sandton SAPS and Rosebank SAPS) to confirm for him, to which he responded that he didn’t know.
Mokoena faced further grilling over WhatsApp messages, Evidence leader, Advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube, presented screenshots from a group created by Kruger on the day of the operation.
The messages appeared to show Mokoena’s active participation, including the exchange of vehicle details and withdrawal instructions.
But Mokoena initially denied being part of the group, insisting that Kruger might have “copied and pasted” his private messages into it.
Madlanga challenged Mokoena, asking what evidence would compel him to apologise and admit that he had not been truthful.
Mokoena avoided the question, saying he would “reserve that answer for a later stage.” This exchange came after revelations that he had lied about not being part of a WhatsApp group created by Kruger.
He eventually admitted that he had not been truthful.
Neither Mokoena nor Kruger could account to the commission for Gauteng Hawks members who wore golf T-shirts as the scene in Sandhurst.