Category: Crime & Corruption News

The vigilance and swift response from members attached to the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) Combat Team has landed several suspects behind bars for possession of unlicensed and prohibited firearms, and illegal possession of ammunition and drugs.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) on Monday said members deployed in the Belhar precinct in Cape Town descended on a premises in Adam Tas Avenue, based on information received, and conducted a search for illegal firearms.

“This resulted in the arrest of a 27-year-old man for the possession of a prohibited firearm and illegal possession of ammunition. A CZ75 pistol, with the serial number filled off, and 12 rounds of ammunition were found in possession of the suspect,” the SAPS said.

Meanwhile, a 35-year-old man from Forest Village was arrested for the illegal possession of ammunition after he was found with a magazine and five rounds of ammunition.

“In another incident, members gathered information from different sources about a shooting that recently took place. A follow-up was conducted regarding the use of the firearm, which led to the arrest of a 33-year-old man, who was found in possession of a 9mm pistol and nine 9mm rounds of ammunition at a premises in Liesbeek Way,” the police said.

The suspect was arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm and illegal possession of ammunition.

The team also discovered a .38 Special revolver, with the serial number removed, in the possession of a 16-year-old suspect after a thorough search was conducted at a premises in Mevede Street.

The suspect was arrested for possession of a prohibited firearm.

In addition, a search and seizure operation was conducted aimed to confiscate illegal drugs and ammunition in the area.

This led to the arrest of a 24-year-old male, who possessed 50 whole mandrax tablets and 19 sachets containing tik, 10 calibre rounds of ammunition and R640 in cash.

The suspect was apprehended for dealing in drugs and illegal possession of ammunition.

“During a tracing operation of wanted persons, the members arrested a 37-year-old man, who was wanted for an attempted murder case reported at Belhar SAPS in May this year.

“The suspects are expected to appear in the Bellville and Blue Downs Magistrates court soon on mentioned charges,” the police said.

The Ministry of Transport has announced that Leonard Ramatlakane has been relieved of his duties as a Board Member and Chairperson of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).

This follows an investigation by the entity on the misuse of one of its properties in Cape Town by Ramatlakane without due and proper processes being followed.

In a statement on Tuesday, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga expressed her appreciation to the chairperson for his leadership and sterling work that led to the recovery of 13 rail lines by the entity, as part of its Rail Recovery Programme.

“This exceeded the target of 10 rail lines that were initially earmarked by PRASA for recovery. It is under Ramatlakane’s watch that PRASA was able to restore a sizable number of PRASA Rail services in various metros in the country, which has ensured that PRASA Rail reclaims its status as a mass mover of commuters in the Republic,” Chikunga said.

The rail lines and stations were hit by vandalists during the lockdown period and the Rail Recovery Programme was set up as a robust government response to that destruction.

The ministry said it is committed to a clean administration and governance across its entities.

Former Northern Cape Transport, Roads and Public Works MEC, John Block, will today make a brief appearance in the Upington Magistrates’ Court in connection with a R51 million tender fraud charge related to the construction of a mental health hospital.

It is alleged that in 2003, Babereki Consulting Engineers CC was fraudulently awarded a tender as a structural civil engineer and project manager within the mental health hospital construction project.

During his tenure as political head, Block and former Head of Department, Patience Mercia Mokhali, appointed Babereki Consulting Engineers CC through their director, Tshegolekae Motaung, even though the company did not meet the necessary requirements.

The actual contract amounted to approximately R51 million.

The Acting Provincial Head of the Hawks in the Northern Cape, Brigadier Prince Mashimbye, welcomed the arrest, saying that they will root out criminality “irrespective of when it happened in order for justice to prevail”.

Block is incarcerated at the Upington Correctional Services centre. He was convicted of fraud, corruption and money laundering in 2015 and sentenced to a 15-year jail term. He, however, only started serving time in 2018 after multiple unsuccessful appeals in the superior courts, including the Constitutional Court.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DJOD) will lead a delegation to Malawi for the extradition hearing of controversial pastor Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary.

The hearing is expected to be heard in the Malawi High Court next Tuesday.

“In leading this delegation the department is fulfilling its role as a central authority. In the extradition context, a central authority is a designated government department that has the responsibility for receiving, managing and executing extradition requests.

“The delegation’s participation to the hearing is in line with section 6 of the Extradition Act of Malawi. [The delegation] consists of senior and highly experienced prosecutors from the National Prosecuting Authority, the Investigative Directorate and investigators from South African Police Services,” the department said.

In a judgement earlier this year, the court ruled that witnesses who will be called in the extradition hearing must be physically present in the court.

“The High Court further ruled that the witnesses required to traverse the provisions of this section are state agents who will be able to comprehensively address these issues,” the DJCOD said.

Bushiri and his wife are wanted in South Africa on charges of fraud and money laundering for their role in an alleged investment scheme worth some R100 million.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Ronald Lamola has welcomed the arrest of a Rwandan fugitive.

The 61-year-old man, Fulgence Kayishema, was arrested at a grape farm in Paarl in the Western Cape on an Interpol Red Notice for his alleged role in the killing of some 2000 people during the Rwandan genocide.

“With this arrest two emphatic statements cannot be refuted, that the long arm of the law knows no time bounds and South Africa is not willing to be a safe haven for fugitives. We will continue to assist other countries and international bodies to trace fugitives. We expect the same from other countries,” Lamola said.

The department explained the man’s arrest.

“The arrest comes after an Interpol Red Notice was issued at the request of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal (IRMCT). The fugitive was wanted by the IRMCT for genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwanda.

“Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of approximately 2000 Tutsi refugees – women, men, children, and elderly – at the Nyange Catholic Church during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He has been at large since 2001,” the department said.

Department of Correctional Services (DCS) Minister Ronald Lamola has told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services that the department has served international security company G4S with a notice to terminate its contract.

The company was in contract with the department to run the Mangaung Correctional Facility where rapist and murderer Thabo Bester escaped last year.

“The notice to terminate follows a legal opinion that DCS had sought. It has been deemed that BCC is not suitable to continue with the contract. In line with the concession contract agreement, a termination notice for a period of 90 days has been served to BCC, and thereafter, the contract will cease to operate.

“DCS has already resumed with an internal exercise for the takeover process,” Lamola said.

The Minister told the committee that in the 2021/22 financial year, there were some 22 escapes from correctional facilities across the country.

“We are the first to acknowledge that one escape at our facilities is one too many. We will redouble our security operations to prevent escapes and deal harshly with officials who fail to adhere to Standard Operating Procedures as the National Commissioner acted yesterday in the Mthata management area where there was an escape of two inmates and one has been recaptured.

“Eight officials who were on duty on the date of the escape and did not adhere to standard operating procedures have been suspended,” he said.

Meanwhile, police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe says at least two more G4S employees have been arrested in connection with Bester’s escape from prison.

“The pair will appear before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday…on a charge of assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody and defeating the ends of justice.

“The team investigating this case have so far arrested eight suspects and cannot rule out the possibility of effecting more arrests,” Mathe said.

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) says a further two correctional officers at the Ngqeleni Correctional facility have been issued with a notice of suspension following the escape of two inmates from custody last week.

This brings to 10 the number of officials suspended following the escape.

One inmate has been rearrested with another, Athini Nothi Mzingelwa, is still at large.

DCS National Commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale, visited Ngqeleni Correctional facility in the Eastern Cape on Monday and said the department is “confident” that the second inmate will be rearrested in a “short period of time”.

He added that the suspension of the officials involved is part of ensuring that officials account for the escapes.

“That is part of ensuring that we hold our officials responsible for the work that they are supposed to do as management of the Department of Correctional Services. We have the Correctional Services Act. We have policies. We have regulations [and] we have procedures. We have made it a point that all of our officials, especially security officials [and] custodial officials, go through training at the college. They know exactly what not to do and what to do,” he said.

Thobakgale explained that the officials went against security plans on the day that the two escaped.

“With this specific activity, there was no approval that the inmates were involved in. If you actually check the number of officials that were responsible on that day, it is against security plans that you would put in place to ensure that you don’t experience this type of escape.

“These incidents are sporadic in our correctional facilities. We are, on a daily basis, housing 156 000 more inmates. What that basically means is that we have a huge population compared to 27 000 officials – part of whom are responsible for security. In all correctional systems in the world, escapes will always be there as part of the risks that we manage.

“For the past three years, the number of escapes in South Africa has been declining – meaning that we are doing well. However, we can’t rule out instances like this one where our own officials actually do not exercise their responsibilities in a manner that they are supposed to,” he said.

Police have arrested a 50-year-old woman and her 39-year-old partner in connection with the murders of two children, Nqobile Zulu and Tshiamo Rabanye, in Soweto.

Their mutilated bodies were found last Thursday morning, after they went missing on the Wednesday night.

“The duo has since been charged with murder. They will appear before the Protea Magistrates Court on Friday, 28 April 2023,” Police Ministry Spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said on Wednesday.

A 39–year-old former G4S employee and a 65-year-old man are expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court today in connection with Thabo Bester’s escape from prison.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) national spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe, a multi-disciplinary team investigating Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre arrested the duo at the weekend.

Mathe said the former G4S employee was arrested at his residence in Bloemfontein on Saturday, 8 April 2023, while the 65-year-old man was arrested on Friday, 7 April 2023, at his home in Port Edward, KwaZulu-Natal.

“Both suspects have been charged with aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from lawful custody,” the statement read.

G4S is a multinational security company that operated and partly-owned Mangaung Correctional Centre, where Bester was incarcerated.

GroundUp recently broke the story about the escape of rapist and murderer Bester in May 2022.

The fugitive Bester, his girlfriend Dr Nandipha Magudumana and a third person believed to be a Mozambican national were arrested on Friday night in Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border.

Mathe announced that a delegation led by the SAPS Deputy National Commissioner responsible for Policing, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, has arrived in Arusha, Tanzania.

“The team is currently engaged with their Tanzanian counterparts to finalise all legal processes required towards bringing escapee Thabo Bester and his accomplices to justice in South Africa.”

The National Commissioner of the SAPS, General Fannie Masemola, according to the spokesperson, has welcomed the latest arrests and said the possibility of more arrests could not be ruled out.

The 65-year-old is believed to be Magudumana’s father.

“General Masemola has again reiterated the appeal to media and the public to exercise patience and allow the investigators the space to conduct the investigations with no undue pressure and expectation.”

The Correctional Services National Commissioner, Makgothi Thobakgale, announced last month the appointment of a Temporary Manager for the correctional facility.

According to the Correctional Services’ findings following their investigation, Bester was assisted to escape from lawful custody on 3 May 2022, yet the contractor maintains that he died in his cell.

Thobakgale said a private vehicle was allowed inside the facility without a gate pass on the day of the escape, possibly carrying an unknown body that was burnt beyond recognition in his cell.

“Tampering with surveillance cameras points to a failed monitoring system deliberately orchestrated to conceal crucial evidence and individuals who aided Bester to escape.

“This is also a failure to guarantee safe custody of inmates and a breach in terms of the responsibilities allocated to the contractor,” Thobakgale said at a media briefing in March.

The South Gauteng High Court has handed a combined 705 years imprisonment sentence to three members of a criminal gang convicted on 19 charges including murder, robbery, assault, attempted murder, possession of firearms, ammunition and kidnapping.

The incidents occurred in the Mopani district in Limpopo between 2017 and 2018.

The landmark conviction came following a trial which began in August 2019 and was built on detective work that involved not only the SAPS but also investigators from various banks.

Three members of the gang, Calvin Congo Mabunda (42), Sibusiso Shamase Mkhwanazi (43) and Bhova Sticks Nkuna (54) began their criminal acts by targeting the district due to a high number of pensioners who were having to withdraw large amounts of cash in the Giyani, Bolobedu, Malamulele and Mokwakwaila policing precincts.

Spotters in the bank would observe the withdrawal and once the victims had left the premises, other members of the gang would be alerted and the unsuspecting victims would then be followed.

In some instances, they followed their victims’ home from the bank and broke down their front doors and robbed them in their houses.

In one instance, Mabunda held a knife to a woman’s throat after she had bought beer and food for a lobola celebration.

The gang’s violent crime spree across Giyani resulted in the police establishing a special task team to apprehend them. The gang members were arrested on 06 January 2018 after robbing a Superspar employee at gunpoint.

The employee allegedly collected R20 000 worth of change from the bank to be transported to the supermarket in the area.

He was allegedly followed by the accused and during the robbery, a shot was fired and drew the attention of police who were patrolling nearby.

The police gave chase and cornered Mkhwanazi and Mabunda at Homu 14 village. The following day, a blue car that was also involved in the robbery was spotted and the police were able to arrest Bhova, after a chase and shoot-out that left a patrol van with a bullet hole in it.

After the arrest of the trio, the spate of violent robberies that were plaguing the Giyani policing area suddenly stopped and further investigations positively linked the suspects to other additional offences that happened in Gauteng and North West provinces.

In 2019, there was enough evidence to go for trial, all the cases across the three provinces were centralised at the South Gauteng High Court.

The three accused were subsequently handed the following sentences on Tuesday, which were diligently investigated by Warrant Officer Robert Khazamula Chabalala attached to the Provincial Organized Crime Unit in Limpopo province, as follows:

– Calvin Congo Mabunda (42) was sentenced to an effective 250 years

– Sibusizo Shamase Mkhwanazi (43) was sentenced to 278 years

– Bhova Sticks Nkuna (54) was sentenced to 177 years

“I’m delighted with the permanent removal of the three accused from society, who never showed any remorse while committing these barbaric acts. This is exemplary to would-be criminals that crime will always be paid in an unpleasant and beneficial manner to the society’s advantage,” Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe said.