‘Under cross-examination during the trial, Macadam [the prosecutor] conceded that the laying of charges, and media publicity surrounding them, were effective in imputing in the minds of the general public the guilt of those so charged, even if they were subsequently found innocent [i].’

The above quotation relates to one of many malicious prosecutions brought against competent SAPS members in the past three decades, in which the accused were top detectives whose investigations had threatened to expose the involvement of senior ANC members in KZN in the carnage in Richmond in the latter 1990s.

They were completely exonerated and won a civil action against the state, but the trial cost then Director Eric Nkabinde his position as head of detectives in KZN (a major blow to detective services in the province).

This malicious prosecution of good cops has continued, unabated, and the most recent victim – joined in a prosecution with other investigators he had no connection with – is Hawks detective Warrant Officer Meshack Makhubo.

Makhubo was charged after he had opened the now notorious Second Docket for defeating the ends of justice in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case. The serious counts he and several others faced included assault, torture, kidnapping and extortion. On 8 August all the accused were found not guilty on all charges, the brief judgment in the Johannesburg High Court referring to the complete lack of evidence needed for conviction (SS74/20). However, through his Meyiwa investigations, Makhubo’s life remains in great danger.

Warrant Officer Makhubo, who has been a detective for 30 years, suffered this shocking treatment for doing his job well following his appointment in 2018 to join other investigators dealing with the murder of Senzo Meyiwa.

Hitman Ntuli

As have other Hawks members, he has had his share of successful convictions, the most recent being that of taxi-cum-political hitman Fisokuhle Ntuli on six counts of murder (a Nongoma IFP councillor plus witnesses) for which he received six life sentences.

According to my records, this is one of only a few known convictions for dozens of politically linked killings in KZN.

Five accused men in the Senzo Mayiwa murder trial leave the dock at the Pretoria High Court on 17 July 2023. (Photo: Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe)

Ntuli is Accused No 5 in the Meyiwa case currently in court. He had been arrested and denied bail in 2018. Makhubo realised there were shortcomings in the Meyiwa investigation, including that a key statement had been removed from the docket after the witness had given that statement to six previous investigators.

His investigations revealed that there was sufficient evidence to charge those in the house with Meyiwa when he was killed, which led to the opening of CAS375/01/2019 – the Second Docket.

The prosecutor to whom the docket was presented agreed that the case was a strong one, and he started to prepare the indictment for the arrest of the suspects who had been in the house. Makhubo was advised to open a case of defeating the ends of justice because key incriminating evidence had been removed.

However, before the matter could proceed further the prosecutor was allegedly instructed by Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Andrew Chauke to charge Makhubo under an existing case which was already in progress, Hillbrow CAS 988/6/17).

This case relates to a matter in which a team of detectives recovered money stolen in Gauteng in 2006, during which time the crimes they were charged for were allegedly committed. Makhubo had not been working with them.  The instruction to charge Makhubo had emanated from then national police commissioner Khehla Sitole, who had also sent a general from the Northern Cape to interrogate him with a view to charging him departmentally, but there was no evidence for an internal inquiry to proceed.

This 2017 case had initially been heard in the magistrates’ court in Johannesburg in 2018, but the presiding officer had thrown it out for lack of evidence. Ipid had been ordered to gather further evidence, but it seems that had not happened when the matter resurfaced in the Johannesburg High Court in 2020. Apparently, even the summons for Makhubo to appear in court was left with lawyers for the other accused.

For three years this case hung over the head of this experienced investigator, which would have been a major impediment to any career advancement. He had to attend court regularly, where no evidence was led against him.

Witness RM

In July 2023, the truth about the extent of complicity in corruption was exposed, as summarised in a sworn statement by witness RM, who had been arrested in 2006 on suspicion of involvement in a robbery.

At the time, he says he gave the SAPS R80,000 which belonged to him.  Sometime in 2017 men (named, and apparently from Ipid) came to him wanting information about what had happened when he was arrested in 2006, and he had made a statement about it which, he says, was the truth.

The same men returned in 2018 and asked him to make another “powerful” statement, which included that he had been assaulted by the police, if he wanted to have his R80,000 returned to him.

He then signed the second statement. However, in a further sworn statement made to a high court advocate involved in the case dated 31/7/2023), RM revealed that he had signed the false statement given him by one of the investigators, PK, “including assault that never happened”,  and confirms that he had not witnessed others being assaulted. He says he had made the false statement after “a promise to get money taken by the police” during the 2006 arrest back (it seems that the money recovered after the suspects had been arrested was linked to the robbery, and was entered in the SAPS system).

Serious questions

This deliberate falsification by Ipid in collusion with the DPP raises extremely serious questions about why this prosecution had been pursued, including about the role of former SAPS Commissioner Sitole, and the conduct of Ipid investigators in collusion with the DPP.

The first, arising from Makhubo’s being joined to an existing case, relates to why the case against those originally accused, Major-General Jan Mabula and North West investigators, was so assiduously pursued, given the absence of evidence.

These detectives had, coincidentally, been investigating the Cato Manor unit, following media reports implicating them in dozens of murders. This strategy, of deployment of investigators and prosecutors from other provinces, had been pursued because of fears about the lack of independence of KZN police, Ipid and prosecutors who were colleagues of the accused.

Serious allegations have been made that these arrests were driven by former Ipid head Robert McBride because the men had arrested and prosecuted members of that unit, including Organised Crime head Johan Booysen (although in the Booysen case, the culprits seem to have been senior prosecutors, especially advocate Moipone Noko).

Ironically, given his role in the prosecution of Makhubo, a November 2020 media report quotes senior prosecutor Chauke as being prepared to waive prosecution against these investigators, apparently ignoring “instructions from NPA deputy head Rodney de Kock to enrol the case…”[ii]

While attempts will be made to have these prosecutions investigated, the exonerated accused will probably need to institute a civil action against the state if the veracity of their allegations are to be tested in a court of law.

It is self-evident that the abominable treatment of an experienced, competent police member with a clean record resulted from his having exposed a tissue of lies and cover-ups relating to the murder of Senzo Meyiwa. 

However, he is not out of the woods in terms of his own personal safety: The threat to his life will continue despite his having been cleared by the high court of any wrongdoing, as the case that he opened poses a threat to extremely powerful people. There is other evidence that suggests a deliberate cover-up involving various senior police members, and alleged political collusion, took place after Senzo Meyiwa was murdered and, in the interests of justice for the Meyiwa family, as well as Makhubo’s safety, it should proceed to trial as soon as possible. The recent brutal assassination of Lt-Col Frans Mathipa highlights the dangers posed to highly skilled Hawks detectives doing important work which may pose a threat to powerful economic and political forces, and concerns about their safety must be taken seriously. DM

Mary de Haas is a violence monitor and analyst.

Sources used in compiling this report

I took the initiative to write this report to publicise what I have seen, over and over again, the persecution of good policemen for doing their jobs well, and highlight the risks posed to their lives. It draws on my monitoring of political violence in KZN, and police conduct generally, with a view to giving credit to good investigators (as in convictions obtained for Glebelands killings).

Sources also include reports from lawyers and those in the media, and documentation procured in 2021 by Malesela Teffo regarding the second docket. I have been closely involved in developments in the Meyiwa case including with the family’s representative. I have followed the court case to which Makhubo’s name was added closely, since I was in contact with North West investigators in the Cato Manor cases as part of my assistance to victims and families of members of the unit, during which time I have also had numerous interactions with the prosecution service.

I have spent the past 30 years trying to expose how good police members are routinely persecuted, while corruption in the SAPS has escalated since 2009. My reports on the victimisation of police members include a research report (1999) “The more things change… Policing in the ‘new’ South Africa”, “Policing culture and stress: the experience of black members” (1998 conference on trauma suffered by police members) and “The Scorpions…” and other reports on policing on my website (www.violencemonitor.com).

[i] From “The Scorpions: Trial by Innuendo – and the Media” 2003 (www.violencemonitor.com).

[ii] Brown, Karima “Cops torture case reveals NPA split”, Sunday Times 22/11/2020.