A former member of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) political killings task team (PKTT) has told the Madlanga commission of how Hawks members were “unfriendly” to him during an operation to arrest alleged drug cartel member Katiso “KT” Molefe.
This information was revealed by Captain Maxwell Wanda on Wednesday at the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System.
Wanda personally testified during the proceedings at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria, under the direction of advocate Le Segeels-Ncube, the commission’s evidence leader.
He told the commission that on December 6, 2024, members of the SAPS were conducting a takedown operation to arrest Molefe at his Sandhurst home in Johannesburg.
Wanda linked Molefe’s arrest to the April 2024 murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart.
He said that while the police were busy arresting Molefe at his house, he received a call from his SAPS colleagues who were at the gate informing him that Hawks members had arrived.
Legitimacy of SAPS members
Wanda said the Hawks members told him they were at the gate to verify the SAPS members’ legitimacy and learn what was happening.
“It was concerning to me to see such a big team from the Hawks at the scene. The local police station is the one that should have come to verify what was happening,” he said.
“The attitude and presence of the Hawks was concerning to me; it was possible interference. I have never experienced interference in my work.
“I was a senior person at that operation, and their presence did not sit well with me. When I got there, they were unfriendly and did not allow me or give me a chance to speak.”
Wanda stated that once the Hawks members confirmed the legitimacy of the SAPS operation, they left the premises.
Wanda added that Lehasa Moloi, who was at the residence when the police were busy apprehending Molefe, asked him: “Do you know that the person [Molefe] you have arrested is a friend of the police minister [Senzo Mchunu]?”
He claimed to have informed Moloi that he was unaware of Molefe and Mchunu’s purported friendship.
Swart, who worked at Q Tech Engineering Company in Vereeniging, was shot and killed outside his workplace on April 17, 2024.
He was gunned down when the alleged hitmen mistook him for another employee believed to be a whistleblower.
Former SAPS detective Michael Pule Tau (55) and alleged hitmen Musa Kekana (35) and Tiego Floyd Mabusela (47), as well as Molefe (61), have been formally charged with Swart’s murder.
Tau, Kekana and Mabusela are currently in police custody, while Molefe was granted R100 000 bail in June by the Pretoria High Court after appealing the Vereeniging Magistrate’s Court decision that earlier denied him release on bail.
DJ Sumbody’s murder
In July, Molefe was rearrested for the murder of musician and club owner Oupa John Sefoka, also known as DJ Sumbody.
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 hearing testimony from Brigadier Lesiba Mokoena, who is attached to the Hawks and serving as a section head in the tactical operations management section (TOMS).
Captain Barry Kruger, who is also a member of the TOMS and affiliated with the Hawks, will provide his testimony on Wednesday, following Mokoena’s.
The commission continues.
