Crime Intelligence operative Lieutenant Colonel Justice Jabulani Duma testified partly in-camera before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday about drug operations and police trust.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
The 2021 brazen theft of the 541kg of cocaine worth more than R200 million while in the custody of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), or the Hawks, in KwaZulu-Natal, has brought disgrace to the SAPS.
This was the parting shot from Crime Intelligence operative Lieutenant-Colonel Justice Jabulani Duma, who testified partly in-camera before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday.
He told the commission that after receiving a tip-off about suspected drug shipments at the Durban harbour in 2021, he called trusted officers to assist in operations.
He initially hesitated to express any distrust towards DPCI officers.
However, at the end of his testimony, he said: “You know commissioner, I don't want to lie to you. I lost trust, not necessarily in the members that were assisting, but I lost the trust in DPCI as a component.”
Duma stated his belief that the drugs were held by Forensic Services.
“To be stolen like that and it is not like one brick or two were stolen (but) the whole consignment; (it) brings us back to square one, where we are trying to get these drugs off the street, and they are going back under police watch,” he said, adding that the incident “was disgraceful to the SAPS”.
He told the commission that on June 21, 2021, he contacted Colonel Gavin Jacobs from the Counter-Narcotics Unit and Warrant Officer Livingstone Mpangase from the DPCI, requesting their assistance to inspect a container suspected of smuggling 27kg of drugs at the CHC Container Depot in Durban Harbour.
The container turned out to hold 541kg of cocaine bricks worth R200 million. The drugs were later stolen from the Hawks’ Port Shepstone storage facility during a burglary in November 2021.
Duma’s account of contacting the two officers prompted Commission Chair Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga to ask: “What informs your choice of the police officers to whom you divulge the information?”
Duma said the choice depends on the commodity, explaining that counterfeit cases go to the Commercial Crime Unit and drug cases go to the DPCI’s Counter-Narcotics Unit.
Madlanga interjected: “But within DPCI, there’s more than one person. How do you choose which one or ones to work with?”
“Normally commissioners, it depends on the relationship and trust of members,” he said.
He cited an example where, as a Crime Intelligence officer, he had worked with certain members before and was satisfied with them, trusting that information given to them would not leak.
“It is a common thing that is being done within the police. It is not only me, or I would say the previous witness, who testified that I have done operations with him previously.... It is all about trust. There is nothing special about it... You have to work with people you trust to make sure your information is safe and secure,” he said.
Madlanga then pressed him, asking whether there were DPCI officers he did not trust.
“I wouldn't say that because I don't have evidence to say I don't trust them. It is just my belief that these are the members I have worked with and I am happy to work with,” he said.
Duma testified after KZN Hawks investigator Warrant Officer Karl Sander told the commission on Tuesday that he took a polygraph test over the missing cocaine, even though he was on leave when the Hawks’ Port Shepstone storage facility was burgled.
The commission initially submitted evidence that Sander failed the polygraph. However, the KZN Forensic Science Laboratory’s polygraph commander later emailed to say the tests on the R200m cocaine theft were discarded after “serious errors” by the examiner, vindicating Sander.
The email stated that during the administrative review of the tests, the reviewer went through all documents and found that the polygraph examiner had made serious errors during the examination.
According to the email, the test was deemed invalid, ensuring the examinee was not unfairly affected by the polygraph examiner's errors.
Sander, who was exonerated by the email, broke into tears of joy.
He testified that several officers were sent for polygraphs regarding the theft, but KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona was not tested despite being present when the cocaine was booked into storage after the June 2021 bust.
Senona is due to testify on Friday to face further questions from the commission about why he did not take the polygraph test.
Sander testified that he was charged for failing to disclose that he was a director of shooting clubs that included other police officers.
He also said he was then moved from the Narcotics Unit to Support Services for “stepping on the toes” of officials allegedly linked to drug dealing.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za