The Madlanga Commission to hear more about the drugs which were stolen from the Hawks premises in KZN in 2021.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
The spotlight will again fall on the country’s baffling drug scandals on Wednesday as a new witness, Colonel Gavin Jacob, is expected to testify before the Madlanga Commission on the disappearance of 541 kilograms of cocaine from Hawks premises in Port Shepstone.
Jacob is the commander of the Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit.
The missing cocaine, valued at more than R200 million, vanished from police custody in 2021 and remains unaccounted for. Despite the scale of the theft and years of scrutiny, no arrests have been made.
Proceedings resumed after a lengthy day of testimony on Tuesday, during which five witnesses shed new light on how drug exhibits are handled within the police system.
Evidence presented before the commission challenged claims that officials from the Forensic Science Laboratory routinely attend non-clandestine crime scenes to collect drug samples and exhibits.
Witnesses also disputed earlier allegations that the laboratory lacked sufficient storage space to accommodate the massive Port Shepstone cocaine consignment.
Previous testimony had suggested capacity constraints contributed to the rejection of the shipment.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Undercover SAPS crime intelligence operative, Lt-Col. Justice Duma has told the commission that the theft of the drugs from a Hawks storage facility left him deeply disappointed and stripped of confidence in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).
Duma is an officer who helped secure one of South Africa's major cocaine seizures
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
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