It has been an excruciating wait for the family of Col Msindisi Dayimani who was run over and killed at Pretoria’s Thaba Tshwane military base in 2017 after blowing the whistle on what he said was a scheme that used Cuban mechanics to repair private cars in a workshop on the base.
Six years later, the family in Gqeberha are still in the dark about the circumstances of his death.
“I called the police officer that is handling the case two months ago … and he told me he was still waiting for some documents from the doctors regarding the cause of death and some other things I didn’t understand,” Dayimani’s sister Julia Gomba said.
“We are not getting any answers, as if no-one cares. But for us as family this has been a painful period because we lost a breadwinner and a brother. There have been no arrests. It can’t be that a person was hit by a truck, and there are no witnesses just to point out the vehicle that killed him.”
Following his whistleblower allegations and three months before his death, Dayimani, 55, had opened a case of intimidation, accusing a lieutenant-colonel at the base of having tried to run him over — while driving one of the civilian vehicles repaired by the Cubans, a Jeep.
In his affidavit Dayimani alleged that among other vehicles repaired by Cuban mechanics at Thaba Tshwane was a classic Mercedes belonging to the then chief of the South African National Defence Force, Gen Solly Shoke.
Shoke this week denied that his vehicle had been repaired at the military workshop or at state expense but acknowledged the Cubans had been helping him to fix the car over weekends.
In his intimidation case affidavit Dayimani said he had earlier reported to his seniors about “fraud and abuse of state resources” involved in the vehicle-repair racket.
“On July 18 2017 at about 4pm while I was jogging back to the unit, the same Lt-Col who was driving the same Jeep which was repaired [at] state expense nearly bumped me with his car intentionally and he showed me a middle finger and drove to TSU [technical service unit],” he wrote.
The surname of the lieutenant-colonel is known to the Sunday Times. Neither the SANDF or the police responded to questions or said if the officer had been investigated.
It can’t be that a person was hit by a truck, and there are no witnesses just to point out the vehicle that killed him
— Julia Gomba, sister of Col Dayimani
Dayimani’s statement is among evidence before a board of inquiry into the military police under Brig-Gen John Moorhouse that is investigating allegations of corruption, abuse of authority, defeating the ends of justice and the improper closing of cases.
On October 17 2017, Dayimani was run over by a truck in broad daylight at the base. In February 2018, the defence legal services division said it had dropped its investigation into the Cuban mechanics allegations “after [the] complainant passed on”.
In his affidavit Dayimani alleged that Shoke’s car, the Jeep and three other private vehicles — a Mini Cooper, a Toyota Fortuner and a Volkswagen Amarok — had been brought to the military workshop to be repaired at state expense.
He said the same officer who tried to run him over had previously contacted witnesses in the whistleblowing case, “instructing them to change their statements”.
“I then spoke to the counter-intelligence office, which told the Lt-Col not to interfere with witnesses,” he stated.
Dayimani took photographs and recorded the registration details of the private vehicles involved. A records search showed that the cream Mercedes-Benz belongs to Shoke, who has since retired.
Shoke told the Sunday Times: “They [the Cubans] used to work on it in my yard and there is a time when they took it, but where they took it was none of my business. There is nothing about my car being fixed at the state’s expense. Anyone who claims that must show proof which parts were bought with state money.
“If someone was stealing from the state, they should not use my name and claim that I was involved … Yes, I have a relationship with the Cubans and there was a time that they had taken the car, test driving it, but I don’t know where they had taken it.
“If they took it to the military base, it is none of my business. They had said they were test driving it,” Shoke said. “Yes, there was a time the car got stuck and I parked it at the military workshop for some time, but I did tow it out of there.”
Photographs taken by Dayimani show the vehicle in the military workshop with its engine removed and stripped.
Other records searches revealed that the Amarok is registered to an Oupa Motloung in Tshiawelo, Soweto, who runs a funeral parlour.
The Toyota is registered to a Maureen Mosang in Mahikeng who works for the department of health.
Neither Motloung nor Mosang responded to calls and text messages seeking to obtain comment. WhatsApp messages sent to them were read.
Searches of the two other vehicles’ registration plates did not yield information about their owners.
Sources with knowledge of the Dayimani case told the Sunday Times that the Cuban mechanics were among those brought to South Africa as part of Operation Thusano, a 10-year agreement for the maintenance and repair of military equipment and vehicles. The operation, which began in 2015, is expected to have cost about R3bn by the time it ends.
The auditor-general has flagged spending on the project as irregular and wasteful. By June last year, the SANDF had paid Cuba about R1.4bn for its services.
Department of defence spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini yesterday acknowledged receipt of questions sent two days earlier.
“This is a bit detailed and needs a detailed response from various entities … Kindly allow me time to engage the military police and the chief of logistics in particular. Hope to revert to you soon.”
Police spokesperson Maj-Gen Mathapelo Peters was unable to respond to questions.
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