KwaZulu-Natal’s top cop, Lt-GenNhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and several police officers are facing a slew of serious allegations, including abduction, torture, arson, perjury and illegal extradition.
The allegations, laid out in a confidential police report and a detailed affidavit from one of the alleged victims, Esmael Maulide Ramos Nangy, have triggered parallel investigations by authorities, including the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
Nangy, Setefane Pereira da Costa Brites, and Samkeliso Mlotshwa were accused of participating in the September 2024 kidnapping and robbery of businessman Zak Desai and demanded R35-million from him.
However, the charges were abruptly withdrawn on January 22, 2025, leaving the accused and their legal representatives to allege procedural irregularities and unlawful conduct by the police.
The saga began in November 2024, when Nangy and another individual were travelling from Mpumalanga to Johannesburg. According to Nangy’s affidavit, as they approached the Craft Road interchange near Benoni, a white VW Golf 8 and a BMW forced them to a halt.
“They pointed guns at us, forced us onto the ground, covered our heads, [and] failed to present an arrest warrant,” Nangy recalls. Neither the assailants – allegedly a mix of police officers and private security operatives – nor their vehicles were marked or identified,
said Nangy.
What followed, according to both Nangy’s account and the police investigation, was a harrowing ordeal of physical and psychological abuse. The pair was taken to a private residence in Houghton, Johannesburg.
Here, Nangy claimed, “Our clothes were cut off with knives while handcuffed, causing injury,” and none of their possessions – cellphones, cash, or Nangy’s Mercedes-Benz – were properly inventoried in official SAPS registers, a breach of standard police procedure.
Nangy describes the torture as “relentless”. He says interrogators demanded information about a supposed kidnapping, brandished a photo showing him dining with one Jumin Ho in Durban earlier that month, and accused him of purchasing airtime for use in extortion – a charge he denied.
“They beat and tortured me, including genital torture with garden shears,” Nangy alleges.
When he refused to unlock his iPhone, he says, “I was choked; a water-filled plastic bag was placed over my head. After over two hours of torture, I unlocked the phone.”
During this ordeal, Nangy was forced to call his wife, with his captors threatening her, “demanding she locate Jumin Ho or return me in pieces”.
Meanwhile, Nangy’s associate was separated from him and transported to Mpumalanga for further interrogation. According to both accounts, the torture resumed on November 20: “hanging upside down, water torture”, Nangy writes in his affidavit.
The police report corroborates that the victims “were held for most of the night” before being transferred to other locations, including Matsulu near the Mozambique border and, ultimately, KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal. One victim required hospitalisation “due to the extent of injuries sustained from the torture.”
The abuse did not end with interrogation. On December 9 2024, Nangy, his associate, and a third suspect, an SAPS officer, were allegedly taken from prison and driven to a private farm near KwaDukuza.
There, Mkhwanazi and members of the complainant’s family reportedly confronted the suspects directly. According to the police report, “It is alleged that the PC (Mkhwanazi) told the officer, ‘You should have committed suicide.’”
Two of the suspects, including Nangy, were then “severely tortured again, this time in the presence of the PC and the complainant’s family”.
The police allegedly confiscated Nangy’s Mercedes-Benz, yet it was later found burnt in Pietermaritzburg, despite recorded as being in SAPS custody.
“The car had been booked into SAPS 13, meaning it was in police custody at the time,” notes the internal report.
“Evidence strongly suggests the police were responsible for destroying the vehicle, constituting arson, a serious offence carrying a minimum sentence of 15 years if convicted.”
Further, officers are alleged to have burnt down the house of the third suspect in Matsulu during a search, though he was not present at the time.
According to the police report, “documentary and eyewitness evidence” has been secured, including SAPS registers, occurrence book entries, hospital records, and border post documentation.
Confiscated property remains missing, Nangy claimed, despite multiple legal requests: “My property remains withheld despite legal requests to Captain Enoch.” He lists two cellphones, watches, R18 000 in cash, and the Mercedes-Benz among the missing items.
A subsequent raid on Nangy’s Midstream home – allegedly conducted by the Hawks without a warrant –resulted in further property seizure and the detention of his wife.
The confidential police report recommends charges against those implicated: three counts of torture, two counts of arson, multiple counts of perjury, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, violation of constitutional rights and unlawful cross-border extradition.
It urges that “a firm, independent, and courageous prosecutor” be appointed, and the whistleblower warns, “If formal charges are laid, I will seek protection, as this matter implicates high-ranking individuals within the SAPS.” Ipid spokesperson Lizzy Suping declined to comment on the case, saying President Cyril Ramaphosa has instituted a commission to investigate allegations involving police services and other law enforcement agencies.
