Russian Doll revisited: Will the SANDF’s ‘dirty dozen’ expose the top brass?

In a country so accustomed to rough justice, we have come to expect state institutions to be either unable or unwilling to hold the very powerful to account.

From apartheid killers to State Capture titans and any number of criminals embedded in the country’s political and economic elite, impunity has the risk of becoming systemic. With the case against 12 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) officials arrested for the murder of Lieutenant Colonel Frans Mathipa, we have an opportunity to change that.

Read more: Twelve SANDF members arrested for killing Hawks’ Frans Mathipa as he closed in on kidnapping, murder

The crimes

Open Secrets’ four-part Russian Doll investigation, published by Daily Maverick in 2023, highlights a harrowing tale which links members of South Africa’s elite Special Forces to the assassination of Frans Mathipa as well as to separate instances of torture of civilians and possibly at least one other murder.

Open Secrets exists to investigate the economic crimes of the powerful, focused on private actors. However, when we started an investigation of possible sanctions busting involving the Lady R vessel, we uncovered a much broader network of abuse and criminal activity involving the SANDF. We crossed lines in terms of our mandate because it is in the public interest to do so.

While every one of these alleged crimes is significant, the murder of Mathipa demands our attention because members of an elite unit within the SANDF stand accused of turning their guns on a top cop.

It represents a breakdown of the constitutional order and the rule of law. When officers in uniform kill one another with the intention of covering up other crimes, it is only logical to assume that they will turn their guns and the power of the state against civilians.

What the Open Secrets investigation has shown is a pattern of abuse of power within the SANDF involving multiple units, including Special Forces, Defence Intelligence, the Military Police and Defence Legal Services. We have linked at least one Special Forces officer whom Mathipa was investigating for the abduction of two civilians from the Mall of Africa – Colonel Sunnybooi Pinny Wambi – to allegations of torture and even murder. 

One of the people who has been the focus of ongoing investigations by the Hawks has been described to us by a senior law enforcement official as being akin to notorious apartheid political assassin Eugene de Kock. It suggests we are now mimicking the very worst violence of the late apartheid state when death squads prowled the streets.

All this begs the question of whether their activities might have extended to other assassinations? Might some of these have been political in nature, involving internal party squabbles, political dirty tricks or money heists to shore up funds for election campaigns?

While we do not currently have the answer to these questions, the prosecution of the SANDF’s “dirty dozen” might open a can of worms that many powerful people would wish remained secret.

The cover-up

Following the publication of the Russian Doll investigation in Daily Maverick and an exposé by

style="font-weight: 400;">Carte Blanche based on the same investigation, the Chief of the SANDF General Rudzani Maphwanya called a rambling press conference in December 2023 at which he accused Open Secrets and Daily Maverick of fabricating stories and the prosecutable offence “an act of defeating the ends of justice”. 

However, at the same press conference, Chief of Defence Intelligence Major General Thalita Mxakato confirmed the existence of a 2023 internal SANDF board of inquiry report that examined allegations by concerned SANDF whistle-blowers of corruption and abuse of power, including torture within the SANDF. 

Open Secrets had made public the existence of this report, compiled by Brigadier General Moorhouse, as part of our investigation (the “Morehouse Report”). We submitted access to information requests to the Department of Defence for a copy of this report, which were flatly ignored for well over a year.

In April 2025, we were informed that the SANDF was now considering this request. At this stage, it seems that the SANDF has failed its legal obligation to respond timeously in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, inviting further legal steps against it.

The politicians, who exercise ultimate oversight over the SANDF, have been informed of various allegations of wrongdoing by Open Secrets but have ignored our pleas that they intervene to prevent the abuse of power.

We wrote to then Minister of Defence Thandi Modise in August 2023. We followed that up with a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in December 2023 and again in December 2024 – to which we never received a substantive response. As a result, none of their office can deny knowledge of these abuses.

Promotion for an alleged torturer

What accountability has there been for the individuals linked to abductions, torture and abuse? Until now, very little. This again shows that the SANDF has done nothing to deal with a very real problem within its ranks. This serves to stain the reputation of the many honest and hard-working members of the SANDF. 

In one instance, a military officer linked to torture was subsequently promoted. A post on the SANDF’s Instagram account in February 2025 records that one of the lead “torturers” – Military Police official Lieutenant-Colonel Doris Netshanzhe was promoted to the position of military attaché this year.

This promotion is likely to lead to a plum posting in another country, which will send her to an as yet unnamed South African diplomatic mission to hob-nob with diplomats, foreign militaries and live a life of comfort at the public’s expense. 

As we showed in Russian Doll 3, Doris Netshanzhe – nicknamed “Mama Skebenga” (Mama Gangster) – was the active co-participant, with Sunnybooi Wambi, in the torture of a man we know only as “Sphamandla” at the Military police bar at Thaba Tshwane military base in February 2020.

According to witness accounts, Sphamandla died that night as a result of his injuries and his body was possibly buried in the grounds of the Special Forces headquarters outside Pretoria.

A test for the President

The prosecution of the SANDF “dirty dozen” represents a significant political challenge for Ramaphosa. The commander in chief has been informed of abuses within the military. He has also known that officers within the SANDF have been implicated in the murder of a top police officer.

He and the politicians in the Ministry of Defence and the parliamentary defence committee have not lifted a finger in public to call for the suspension of implicated officers. The military top brass have either remained silent or simply denied any allegations of abuse.

Their collective silence risks making the political establishment accomplices to these crimes if they do nothing to address this. At the very least, one or more generals should be dismissed for this inaction and the President needs to consider why the chief of the SANDF has done so little to tackle this — and hold him accountable.

All of this underscores the extraordinary public importance of the prosecution of the SANDF’s “dirty dozen” and the work of the Hawks and prosecutors in bringing these matters to court. They will no doubt face intense backroom pressure to drop these charges.

This represents a test for our democratic state and demands vigilance to ensure that all those implicated are held to account. Ultimately, we need to ensure that not only are the perpetrators held to account, but also the system of cover-up and silence which has enabled it. We owe this to victims and their families. DM

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