Controversial North West businessman and police minister Senzo Mchunu’s comrade, Brown Mogotsi, told the Madlanga commission that “I ran for my life” after the November shooting incident in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg.
Mogotsi said this when he was testifying on Wednesday at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System taking place in Pretoria.
Mchunu is currently on special leave.
Registered SAPS informant
During his testimony, Mogotsi said he has been a registered informant of the South African Police Service (SAPS) since 1999.
He said he is an agent of the SAPS’s crime intelligence unit and has a “handler” called Mazibuko. He said he also has a “co-handler” whose name he does not want to reveal in public.
Mogotsi said he was a victim of attempted murder during the November 3 Vosloorus shooting.
“My life was attempted [murder] in Vosloorus. People think I am super man. Those people followed me for a long time. And they saw my car, and they fired a shot at my car. The people passed me with their car when they made a U-turn. When they were making a U-turn, I saw that as an opportunity, and I ran for my life.
“I got the shock of my life when people said I staged the attack…” said Mogotsi.
On the night of November 3, Mogotsi was allegedly shot at while driving a red vehicle in Vosloorus. He was unharmed after the alleged shooting.
Investigation into shooting continues
After the shooting incident, National Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said police successfully executed the search and seizure warrant that was issued on October 16 for Mogotsi.
Mathe said the search and seizure operation at Mogotsi’s business premises at Seweding Village in Mahikeng, North West, was in connection with a case of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice that police are investigating. She said police also seized certain devices from Mogotsi.
Mathe said police are investigating an attempted murder case in relation to the shooting at the vehicle Mogotsi was travelling in.
Mogotsi began his testimony on Tuesday and finished reading his witness statement on the same day.
On Wednesday, Mogotsi’s main testimony was subjected to cross-examination by the commission’s chief evidence leader, Adv Matthew Chaskalson SC.
Cross-examination continues
The commission is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. It is sitting at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria.
It resumes on Thursday at 9.30am, with the continuation of Mogotsi’s cross-examination.
Tuesday’s proceedings had a late start at 2pm as Mogotsi and his lawyers needed an opportunity to consider documents in the commission bundle that he had not yet been able to work through.
