By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The self-proclaimed police informant Tumelo Nku, who maintained he acted as a confidential intelligence source was back at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry at the Bridget Mabandla Justice College in Tshwane.
The proceedings were delayed on Friday after he asked for time to work on a supplementary statement.
On Monday, he told the commission that his spiritual leader encouraged him to submit a fresh and truthful supplementary statement to the commission.
The statement follows hours of closed-door consultations between Nku, his legal team and the commissions evidence leaders during his previous appearance.
Nku’s lawyer, Advocate Piet Du Plessis, was absent from today’s proceedings, with Nku telling the commission he no longer required legal representative and would instead rely on his faith.
He admitted withholding information in his earlier statement out of fear of reprisals.
“There had been reservations in what I’ve inserted in my previous statement and it was mainly out of fear. So after that chat I saw it for and correct that I need to come to the commission and set the record as straight as I can. It was a conscious decision that one took and that’s when on Friday we had a consultation with the evidence leader, said Nku.
He also provided further details about the 2021 cocaine shipment discovered at Scania South Africa’s warehouse in Aeroton, where police seized 715kg of cocaine worth an estimated R300 million.
He maintained that the primary objective of the operation was to prevent the shipment from reaching its intended recipient.
“The main objective was there to be a bust. The dynamics or semantics of it were not crucial, so the interception should have had to happen, so long as it would have disrupted the consignment reaching its intended recipient.”
However the commission Chair Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga dismissed the document as a “damp squib”, noting that it contained no new facts and that Nku confessed his prior contradictory statements were made out of fear.
Nku will be called again at the commission, on the date that will be confirmed.
The commission also provided an update on the suspended deputy Crime Intelligence boss, Major-General Feroz Khan testimony.
This comes after Khan was shot on 3rd Avenue in Houghton, Johannesburg, on Sunday night, just days before he was expected to appear before the commission after being implicated by previous witnesses.
The commission said the engagements with Khan’s legal team regarding his appearance are ongoing.
Meanwhile, Forensic investigator and anti-corruption activist, Paul O’Sullivan, told the commission that allegations of senior police officials being involved in drug trafficking are not new.
He said although KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, has raised concerns about senior police officials engaging in gross misconduct, but argued such conduct has existed since the 1990s.
O’Sullivan further alleged there is another motive behind Mkhwanazi’s decision to expose colleagues, which he said he will disclose at a later stage. He also suggested that Mkhwanazi’s actions in dealing with officials linked to organised crime within the criminal justice system may be unlawful.