Cops let R593 per month security contract lapse before R200m cocaine Hawks building heist

Why this matters

Retired Hawks officer Jakobus Prinsloo has testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry about a R200-million cocaine theft from the Hawks building in Port Shepstone in 2021. The commission is investigating accusations that a drug cartel has infiltrated the country’s criminal justice sector.

Prinsloo’s testimony adds to allegations that police officers failed to properly carry out basic tasks in the run-up to the theft at the unsecured building.

A security company stopped providing services at the Hawks building in Port Shepstone, from which thieves later stole a R200-million cocaine consignment, because it had not been paid, Jakobus Prinsloo, a former Hawks officer, testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday, 7 May 2026.

Prinsloo explained that an alarm system had been linked to the armed response company, National Security and Fire – the monthly cost for the service was R593.56.

‘Mind-boggling’ — R593 security vs R200m theft

“The contract expired in March 2020. It was important that the office had armed response because no one was in the office after hours and weekends, including public holidays,” Prinsloo said.

In December 2020, National Security and Fire informed the Hawks it “would not be rendering any services at our unit due to non-payment”.

Madlanga Commission chair Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga interjected during this part of the testimony, remarking that he could not understand how R593.56 was an issue, when “there’s so much waste of government funds used for corruption and all those things”.

The incredulous Madlanga added: “It boggles the mind.”

He said later that when he assessed the overall cocaine theft saga, it appeared that Hawks officers were among the suspects.

Daily Maverick has reported that there had been eight break-ins (some were attempted) at the Hawks building in Port Shepstone over a decade, from 2011.

‘The alarm doesn’t even work'

The cocaine at the centre of the scandal under scrutiny at the Madlanga Commission this week was intercepted at an Isipingo depot in KwaZulu-Natal in June 2021.

Several months later, in November, it was stolen from the strong room inside the unsecured Port Shepstone building.

Prinsloo, who had been the acting unit commander responsible for the building, testified on Thursday that there was still no security at the premises.

DRUGS AND CORRUPTION

‘Embarrassing’ R200m cocaine theft was eighth break-in at Hawks building, cop tells commission

May 6, 2026

“It’s got nothing […] The alarm doesn’t even work any more,” he said.

“I was there on Monday and Tuesday [4 and 5 May] to get documents for this commission, and I spoke to [officers there].”

Prinsloo testified at the Madlanga Commission on Thursday, after two days of testimony from Major General Hendrik Flynn, who heads the Serious Organised Crime Investigation component of the Hawks.

Flynn told the commission that the R200-million cocaine consignment should never have been stored at the Hawks building in Port Shepstone.

He suspected that police officers orchestrated a series of events leading up to the theft.

Expired quotes

Prinsloo told the commission that in 2020, enquiries were made about the renewal of the National Security and Fire contract. There was an instruction to obtain quotations from other security service suppliers.

In April 2020, an application was made to continue the monthly National Security and Fire contract. “To date, no feedback has been received on that application,” Prinsloo testified.

A procurement process ensued for a new security company, while other service providers had supplied quotes.

“An application was made on 29 May 2020 for security services and monitoring at the office for a period of 12 months, but to date, it has not been approved,” Prinsloo said.

“The quotes received from suppliers have now expired.”

‘No generator’ during power outages

Photographs of the Hawks building in Port Shepstone were screened at Thursday’s commission proceedings.

Prinsloo, often reading from a statement he prepared for the commission, explained that “the office was in a business area” and shared a perimeter with a hardware store, a newspaper office, a mortuary and a liquor authority.

“There was a serviced electrical fence around the perimeter fence, save for the part which was bordering the liquor authority,” he said.

Read more: From bust to heist — Hawks officer says cops ‘intentionally bungled’ R200m cocaine haul investigation

“Obviously, when there was load shedding, the electricity fence would not work. The office had no generator or electricity backup.” (It has previously emerged that the cocaine was stolen during a power cut.)

There was a reception area inside the building, but it was not staffed because of personnel shortages.

Two walk-in safes were on the ground floor (the stolen cocaine consignment was kept in one of these).

Prinsloo said there were no cameras inside the building.

“However, there was an alarm system which monitored motion. When it was armed, it would be triggered by motion,” he testified.

Each staff member had a key to activate or disarm the alarm.

As with the perimeter fence, the alarm did not work without electricity.

Repeated warnings

Back to the security service provider issue: In January 2021, a police officer emailed colleagues asking for approval for a security contract.

That officer had warned: “In the event that something should happen, this office has no security in place and there have been numerous break-ins at the office.”

The evening after the email was sent, on 14 January 2021, there was another break-in at the Hawks building in Port Shepstone. It was discovered the following day.

Prinsloo’s statement said: “A rock was used to break the window of the kitchen. However, the criminals were prevented [from entering ] by the burglar bars.”

That day, 15 January 2021, Prinsloo wrote to a Brigadier Nyuswa, pointing out that the office alarm was not linked to a security company.

SAPS AND STOLEN COCAINE

Four years on — broken protocols and DJ Sumbody killing claims circle R200m cocaine cop theft

August 12, 2025

He warned: “If the office is broken into, there is no way for any of us to be notified about it; we will only see it when we arrive at the office.”

Months later, in June 2021, the intercepted cocaine consignment arrived at the Hawks building in Port Shepstone.

Prinsloo pointed out on Thursday that the drugs were not sealed in tamper-proof evidence bags, as they should have been.

‘Nothing changed’

Referring to the Hawks building, he also said that “at the time, there was still no security service”.

Prinsloo’s statement continued: “Nothing had changed. Security was neither upgraded nor enhanced. I found this particularly strange.”

He described the Hawks building as “totally unsuitable” for storing confiscated drugs.

Prinsloo insisted that Brigadier Nyuswa and KwaZulu-Natal’s Hawks head Major General Lesetja Senona should have known this.

Prinsloo explained that as far back as 2017, a decision was made not to store exhibits at the building.

As such, there were no official police forms to document what evidence had been received when the cocaine consignment arrived.

Evidence leaders pointed out that Prinsloo went along with this state of affairs, even though he knew that the evidence should be recorded, and that he had provided the safe keys to fellow officers.

Prinsloo agreed this had been the case, and said that he had simply gone along with a plan that other officers had made.

‘Big problem’

He recalled how on the morning of 8 November 2021, he was at work early when a colleague, BJ Pienaar, phoned him and said there was a “big problem”.

As Prinsloo walked to Pienaar’s office, he smelled something “peculiar”, like that of metal that a grinder had been used on.

He said: “I saw that the office was [trashed]. I also noticed that the safe door was halfway opened and the blue chair, which was inside the safe, was outside, and that the locks [were ground] off [...]

“I walked to the safe and saw that the exhibits [had been] taken.”

Prinsloo said that someone with inside knowledge had cut through the special locks on the walk-in safe and explained that they would have had to know how to get through specific mechanisms.

Photographs of the crime scene showed that, to get to the Hawks building, thieves had cut through a chain locking the gate at the adjoining hardware shop.

Burglar bars on one of the building windows were cut and bent, allowing space for the thieves to enter the Hawks’ offices.

Shoe prints in a powdery substance were in or near the walk-in safe, where various other items had been left.

The evidence bags that the cocaine bricks were eventually sealed in had been discarded outside the building, some in concrete pipes.

What next?

On Friday, 8 May 2026, the Madlanga Commission is expected to hear from a person referred to as Witness H about the R200-million cocaine theft and other major drug interceptions.

Witness H will testify in-camera due to security concerns.

DM