Madlanga Commission reveals unaccounted Hawks operation during KT Molefe's arrest

An operation by the Hawks, which saw the Gauteng Traffic Police helicopter hover the Sandhurst home of controversial businessman and murder-accused Katiso ‘KT’ Molefe during his arrest by members of the Organised Crime unit, is not accounted for in the record books of the Hawks’ unit.

The Madlanga Commission heard on Wednesday during the testimonies of Brigadier Lesiba Mokoena, a section head in the Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS) under the Hawks, and Captain Barry Kruger, a member of the TOMS, who was deployed to check the legitimacy of the operation.

Mokoena told the commission that the operation was unaccounted for because it came as an emergency.

Captain Kruger told the commission that the creation of an inquiry number could either be requested by him or Mokoena; however, this did not happen.

During his testimony, Mokoena said he had received a call from his divisional commissioner, Lieutenant-General Patrick Mbotho, the acting deputy national head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as Hawks.

“He (Mbotho) said that he was approached by Lebeya (Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, the now retired Hawks head), who said he has received a call that members alleging to be from the Hawks were conducting an illegal operation,” Mokoena said.

He added that he then instructed Kruger and one constable to go and verify the legitimacy of the operation.

Mokoena added that he was in constant communication over the phone with the two assigned members, to get an update on what was happening with the operation.

It was also revealed that Kruger had told Mokoena that they were in Pretoria North, which is far from Sandton and that it was during the peak hour, the car they were driving was not fitted with sirens and was also in poor condition - the tyres were smooth and the members were awaiting new tyres.

However, Mokoena had insisted that they go to the venue.

Kruger told the commission that he created a WhatsApp group for the purpose of the Hawks’ Sandhurst operation, and he also contacted Chief Inspector George Raftopoulos from the Gauteng Traffic Police Airwing to help verify the legitimacy of the take-down operation that was taking place at Molefe’s house.

Kruger also reached out to WhatsApp groups of security companies operating in the Sandton area for anyone who might be able to confirm the legitimacy of the operation.

The commissioners asked Kruger why he did not contact the nearest police stations (Sandton SAPS and Rosebank SAPS) to confirm for him, to which he responded that he didn’t know.

Neither Mokoena nor Kruger could account to the Commission for the six or eight Gauteng Hawks members who wore golf T-shirts as the scene in Sandhurst.

Mokoena said: “I only assigned two TOMS officers to verify the legitimacy of the Sandhurst operation. If there were other members that Kruger wanted to add, he would have requested my approval first. If he had indeed added these members without my approval, this would constitute a disciplinary action.”

Kruger said: “I arrived with the constable at the scene; the members from Gauteng found us there, and they were in Hawks golf T-shirts. I did not request them to join us at the scene.” 

Kruger told the commission that before he arrived at the scene, he was told by Raftopoulos via WhatsApp that ‘the take-down was a legitimate counter-intelligence operation and the commander was Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo’.

To which the commissioners asked him why didn’t he inform the members to stand down, to which he said he still needed to confirm for himself at the venue and then report back to Mokoena.

There were also questions about why Hawks members had to remain outside Molefe’s house for about an hour after being told that the operation was legitimate. 

Kruger admitted that the Hawks members were rude and hostile to the members effecting the J50 (warrant of arrest), and the other members were also unfriendly to the Hawks’ teams.

Kruger said he took the pictures of the cars at the scene, and in one of the images, were two men. One of the men was pointed out as (Mr Mthethwa) the person who informed the general about an illegal operation at Molefe’s house.

Earlier, Captain Maxwell Wanda had testified that the same person (Mr Mthethwa, later identified as a relative of Molefe) handed him a cellphone and on the other end was Brigadier Mokoena, who said he would like to apologise on behalf of the members of the Hawks because they were given the wrong information. 

Wanda is a former member of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), who was at the time deployed to assist the Gauteng team of detectives investigating the murder of Vereeniging engineer, Armand Swart.

Wanda said Mokoena told him that he was attending the SAPS excellence Awards with Lebeya and Mbotho.

The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry is investigating allegations of collusion and corruption between politicians, senior police, prosecutors, intelligence operatives, and elements of the judiciary, levelled by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za