John Matisonn: Madlanga is looking into Mkhwanazi's backyard

The Madlanga Commission has turned to KwaZulu-Natal, where police witnesses have described tow-truck turf wars, drug trafficking and killings that bypass ordinary investigation and prosecution. At the centre is the death of Bevan Loftus, shot by a police task team in eThekwini in April 2023, a day after his father won a court interdict aimed at stopping police from killing him. IPID's Ben John told the commission the shooting bore the hallmarks of a paid hit, arranged by a rival tow-truck operator, and that similar cash-in-transit shootings across KZN routinely leave no surviving witnesses and little evidence linking victims to any crime..By John Matisonn.As the Madlanga Commission enters its final two months, its focus has shifted to the troubled KwaZulu-Natal province, where the controversy began with the bombshell corruption claims by KZN police commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi 13 months ago.KZN police witnesses described connections between a police task force and turf wars among tow truck companies that traffic in drugs, and “extrajudicial” police killings that are alleged to bypass lawful crime processing, investigation and prosecution.Two KZN police experts testified about police who killed suspects on sight, and concluded that their justifications were not credible -- yet were not investigated.The commission heard that tow truck drivers transport drugs, have friendly ties with the police, and that it is common practice for police to tip off the tow truck companies when there is an accident in return for a tip-off fee, or bribe. Some tow truck businesses are run by violent gangs and are also in the taxi business, an industry with a long history of violent turf wars.Evidence was given that police killed tow truck company owner Bevan Loftus, whose father Gregory, a former policeman, was convinced that the police were about to kill Bevan on behalf of a rival tow track company.Gregory obtained a court interdict to stop the police from murdering his son on March 31, 2023. The following day, April 1, Bevan was killed in a hail of bullets by a cash-in-transit police task force in Morningside, eThekwini. “Bevan was murdered by the police under the guise of a legitimate police operation and at the instance of Clive Naicker, a competitor of Bevan in the tow truck industry and alleged drug dealer,” Gregory Loftus told the commission.While Gregory painted a picture of his son as a law abiding businessman, the next witness, a weapons expert recently retired after 40 years of police service, testified about the son’s “notorious” reputation in Wentworth, eThekwini. Captain Ashley Houston’s expertise is in examining crime scenes, an expertise that started when he was the best shot in his class at police college.He corroborated other witnesses’ evidence that Bevan was killed by police. But Houston knew a lot more about the family’s back story.Captain Houston knew Bevan as a close friend and ally of the leader of one of the biggest and most dangerous gangs in Wentworth, and testified about other family run-ins with the police. Houston was the investigating officer when Bevan laid a charge against his father for stealing one of his vehicles, and said that other police officers were too afraid to arrest Bevan. After Houston began the arrest process, father and son made up and the charge was withdrawn. Ben John, KZN deputy director of investigations at Independent Police Investigative Directorate, IPID, testified that in most cases involving alleged cash-in-transit suspects being killed by police officers, “all suspects and occupants present when the shooting takes place are killed by the task team, leaving no witnesses to the operation other than the members of the task team itself”.John told the commission that Captain Pedro Rodrigues and members of his task team responsible for investigating criminal activity linked to the taxi industry were allegedly involved an attempted murder on 30 May 2024.Ten police officers fired on an armoured Toyota Fortuner along the M13 Highway towards Westville. At least 14 rounds were fired. John also raised serious concerns about the legitimacy of the shootings involving alleged cash in transit cases linked to a task team led by Hawks Lieutenant-Colonel Deena Govender.John said IPID often found little evidence linking those killed to CIT robberies.“In cases where the deceased are shot for involvement in CIT heists, there is often no meaningful evidence linking them to any such offences in the provision of cases, no rifles, explosives, explosive devices, banknotes or banknotes found on the scene of the shooting as would ordinarily be the case in a CIT operation seeking out suspects.”John said that in most of the shootings, all occupants were killed, leaving no independent witnesses.IPID also frequently found no high-calibre rifles, explosives, or cash – items ordinarily present where cash in transit criminals are operating..Read more:.Matisonn: How the Arrest of Gen. Khumalo triggered Mkhwanazi’s July 6 bombshell claims.IPID also established that vehicles used in these operations had false registration plates and no official police markings. Some officers wore plainclothes and balaclavas. John said the evidence pointed to an alleged R2.5-million hit on Bevan Loftus by rival tow-truck businessman Clive Naicker.“The killing of Bevan Loftus, Sihle Zondi, Ryan Santos, Chase Fynn, and Michigan Hippolyte has a range of disturbing features that are consistent with a deliberate extra-judicial killing paid for by an organised crime competitor,” John said.Three key questions remain: 1. Do some in the KZN police have a “shoot first, check later” law enforcement practice? 2. Is there a truly clean faction in the police’s provincial and national leadership? And3. Is the political killings task team, the PKTT, that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu ordered to be shut down in 2024 fact clean and effective?.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

John Matisonn: Madlanga is looking into Mkhwanazi's backyard

Related Stories

And the next president will be….. my son?: John Matisonn

Madlanga fells another giant, but where should the buck stop?: John Matisonn

FT: If you think your profession is dying, it could soon be gone

Matisonn: The Leon "scandal" has it backwards. SA needs more business lobbying, not less.