The AK-47 assault rifle that was used to shoot and kill Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart is the same firearm that was used to kill famous musician and club owner Oupa John Sefoka, also known as DJ Sumbody, and Hector Buthelezi, also known as DJ Vintos.
It is the same AK-47 that was also used to kill Don Tindleni.
This information was revealed by Captain Solomon Modisane on Tuesday at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System.
Modisane was testifying remotely but on camera during proceedings at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria.
The commission is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga.
Ballistics expert
Modisane, a senior analyst with the South African Police Service (SAPS)’s forensic science laboratory in Silverton, Pretoria, has also been deployed to the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) political killings task team.
His testimony was conducted by the commission’s evidence leader Adv Thabang Pooe.
During his testimony, Modisane said the AK-47 that was used to shoot and kill Swart is the same firearm that was used to kill DJ Sumbody, DJ Vintos and Tindleni.
Modisane said he received a letter from the KZN political killings task team to conduct a comparison test on cases in Bramley, Sandton and Orlando.
He said four firearms were confiscated from three suspects in Bramley, Johannesburg, a few hours after Swart’s murder. Among the four firearms was an AK-47.
Body count
Modisane said the Sandton case was of DJ Sumbody and his two bodyguards, and the Orlando cases were of DJ Vintos and Tindleni.
“All the exhibits mentioned were fired from the same firearm (AK-47 with serial number 575363). The same AK-47 was found in possession of suspects in Bramley. The firearm murdered DJ Sumbody, DJ Vintos and Don Tindleli,” said Modisane.
DJ Vintos was shot and killed in a hail of bullets in March 2022 outside a nightclub in Orlando East, Soweto.
DJ Sumbody and his two bodyguards, Sibusiso Mokoena and Sandile Myeza, were shot and killed by unknown men while travelling in their cars on November 20 2022 on the corner of Woodmead and Woodland drives in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Tindleni was shot and killed in a hail of bullets in March 2023 on the N1 near the M17 off-ramp while he was in his BMW 5 Series.
Swart, who worked at Q Tech Engineering Company based in Vereeniging, was shot and killed outside his workplace on April 17 2024.
He was killed when the alleged hitmen mistook him for another employee, who is a whistleblower.
The suspects nabbed
Former SAPS detective Michael Pule Tau (55), alleged hitmen Musa Kekana (35), Tiego Floyd Mabusela (47) and alleged drug cartel member Katiso “KT” Molefe (61) have been formally charged with the murders of DJ Vintos, DJ Sumbody and his bodyguards, Tindleni and Swart.
Tau, Kekana and Mabusela are currently in police custody after not bringing a bail application in the cases of DJ Sumbody, DJ Vintos and Tindleni.
Molefe was granted R400 000 bail by the Johannesburg High Court on October 10 after appealing the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court decision that denied him bail in the DJ Sumbody case.
The commission is currently listening to testimony from a new witness, Captain Meldon Mkhatshwa, also a senior forensic analyst (ballistics) based at the SAPS laboratory in Silverton.
Mkhatshwa, who is testifying physically, has also been deployed to the KZN political killings task team.
His testimony is led by the commission’s chief evidence leader Adv Matthew Chaskalson SC.
