Revo Spies, the retired deputy chief of police for the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD), informed the Madlanga commission of inquiry that the EMPD has not yet disciplined three officers who were accused of kidnapping a Benoni businessman.
Spies revealed this information on Monday at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System taking place in Pretoria.
In the testimony, Spies said that in July 2022, three EMPD officers were arrested and criminally charged with theft, kidnapping, extortion, and defeating the ends of justice.
The arrest stemmed from an incident that transpired at a supermarket in Benoni in July 2022.
“The officers allegedly entered the shop of a businessman in Benoni and confiscated boxes of cigarettes. The officers arrested the businessman, took him with them down Pretoria Road, and then got onto the N12 in Benoni.
“When they arrived on the N12, they took his cellphone and R200 cash from him and told him to run into the veld because he is a foreign national. They only handed in one box of cigarettes at the EMPD office,” said Spies.
Case withdrawn from court roll
He said the three officers appeared in court in 2022 and were granted bail, identifying them as Kasher Lee-Stols, Adrian McKenzie, and Bafana Thwala.
Spies said the EMPD decided to start with disciplinary action against the officers while they were on bail and suspended from work.
“On the first day of the disciplinary matter, I was supposed to testify, but the matter was taken away.
“The disciplinary process was stopped completely. To date, there has been no disciplinary action against the officers; they are still employees of the EMPD,” he said.
Spies said the matter was provisionally withdrawn from the court roll in April 2025, highlighting that one of the officers, Lee-Stols, resigned from the EMPD in July.
Spies started testifying on Friday, with his testimony led by one of the commission’s evidence leaders, Adv Mahlape Sello SC.
Last week, Spies said an EMPD internal investigation uncovered that alleged drug cartel member Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s private vehicles were registered as municipal vehicles and installed with the state’s blue lights by Julius Mkhwanazi, the EMPD’s deputy chief of police.
Mkhwanazi is currently on special leave.
