Video and photos at the Madlanga Commission ‘show link’ between Sibiya and cartel, says Khumalo

Video footage taken from the CCTV cameras at the house of alleged cartel leader Katiso “KT” Molefe revealed that, days before Molefe’s arrest in December, he had been visited by a sergeant Nkosi, a police detective working in the office of deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya.

The footage showed that Nkosi left with a white paper bag, which he was not carrying when he entered some minutes before.

The video footage and other photos were shown at the Madlanga Commission, during the evidence of Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo, head of police crime intelligence and project leader of the political killings task team. Khumalo said it showed the “link” between Sibiya and the cartel they were investigating.

Some of Khumalo’s evidence on Tuesday had already been given to the commission by another witness, in camera. At that stage, an investigation involving this evidence was still ongoing; but on Tuesday Khumalo was able to reveal some of it publicly.

Khumalo was the commanding officer for two operations, both conducted on December 6 ― the arrest of Molefe and the search and questioning of Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala. The commission has heard testimony that both belong to a cartel known as “the Big 5″.

Khumalo told the commission that Matlala told the investigating team that, when they arrived at his house in December, he already knew they were coming — he had been tipped off by Nkosi.

And last week, witness C testified that Matlala had told them, in an informal “talk” Matlala had requested after he was arrested that Nkosi “is the person who will be transporting the funds from him to General Sibiya”.

Matlala had given the team Nkosi’s bank account number and said he was “in constant communication” with him, testified witness C.

We are worried about the growing trend we see within SAPS that makes the work of the juniors not difficult, but very painful.

—  Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo

Khumalo said that, on ascertaining the number plate of the white BMW that Nkosi used to visit Molefe, the team was able to verify that it was a SAPS vehicle. However, the internal tracking device, which is fitted to all SAPS vehicles, was not fitted in this one. It either had never been fitted or the tracking unit had been removed, he said.

Further videos and photos were then shown to the commission, including television footage of Sibiya on the day his house was raided in October. The footage showed him getting into a Toyota bakkie, which was followed in convoy by the same white BMW from the footage at Molefe’s house.

The two cars “moved together”, suggested evidence leader Adila Hassim SC, after photos taken from licence plate recognition cameras around Johannesburg placed the two cars in different spots, but always seconds behind each other.

Khumalo then revealed that the owner of the Toyota bakkie that Sibiya was driving was Sharnick Stuart James, someone who had been prosecuted for 34 cases, and found guilty in 18 of them, mostly car thefts and hijackings. In 2011, there was almost one theft or hijacking per month, said Khumalo.

“Looking at the basic profile of the individual it tells you that … this individual is part of a car-hijacking syndicate that is working very hard, looking at the timelines. It’s not a vehicle per year, maybe it’s 12,” he said.

In a shocking claim, Khumalo then showed the commission a photo of Sibiya recently giving evidence before the ad-hoc committee in parliament. Seated two rows behind Sibiya was James, “acting like his close protector — in the highest offices of government”, he said.

Asked how he ascertained that the two were the same person, Khumalo said they used “various means”, but had confirmed this. Khumalo said it was “a worry” that SAPS senior officials appeared to be easily infiltrated, befriended or associated with criminals.

Referring to the evidence previously given by lower-ranking officers, witnesses A, B and C, Khumalo said “it makes the lives of those that need to deal with those cases very difficult. Because now for them to come closer to the individual, they must first go through the deputy national commissioner,” he said.

He said professional criminals who were part of syndicates or cartels always seek to get closer to the higher levels in law enforcement— to ensure their protection, the longevity of their operations and so that “it becomes difficult for lower levels”.

“We are worried about the growing trend we see within SAPS that makes the work of the juniors not difficult but very painful,” he said.