Illustrative Image: Silhouette of Ebrahim Kadwa. (Image: X / @Miz_Ruraltarain) | Silhouette of Feroz Khan. (Image: X) | Handcuffs. (Image: Freepik) | SAPS and Hawks logos. (Image: Wikicommons) | (By Daniella Lee Ming Yesca) The corruption scandal rocking the South African Police Service (SAPS) reached a new peak this weekend with the arrest of two high-ranking generals. Major General Feroz Khan of Crime Intelligence and Major General Ebrahim Kadwa, head of the Hawks in Gauteng, were arrested for the alleged illegal dealing and unlawful possession of precious metals.
The arrests, executed via J50 warrants, mark a significant escalation in the government's crackdown on internal police corruption and organised mineral theft.
On Sunday, 10 May, the SAPS confirmed that two senior officers and a civilian were arrested for illegally dealing and possessing precious metals.
While the SAPS did not name the three, it was widely reported that the detained officers were Khan and Kadwa.
15 cops in the dock
Daily Maverick has independently confirmed that Kadwa was taken into custody.
Earlier on Sunday. Eyewitness News reported that unmarked police vehicles were parked outside a building in Houghton, Johannesburg, where Khan is believed to stay.
The three suspects are expected in the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court on Monday, and Khan and Kadwa are among 15 senior police officers set to appear in Gauteng courts this week.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/LIGHT-BLUE-26.jpg "Feroz Khan. (Photo: Supplied)")
Suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola is also expected in the dock in a separate case involving a dubiously awarded tender.
All the arrested officers are linked to the law enforcement scandal.
‘Illicit precious metals and corruption’
After the latest arrests, the SAPS issued a statement on Sunday saying: “The suspects were arrested following investigations into allegations of illicit precious metals transactions, corruption and related offences”.
“These arrests form part of ongoing efforts by law enforcement to dismantle criminal networks involved in the illicit trade of precious minerals and corruption.”
#sapsHQ The #SAPS confirms the arrest of two senior officers and a civilian allegedly linked to the illegal dealing and unlawful possession of precious metals following an intensive investigation by the Gauteng Counter Intelligence Operations (GCI-OPS).
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) May 10, 2026
The suspects, were… pic.twitter.com/uOGGQc1eHh
Kadwa, as the Gauteng head of the Hawks, has previously publicly commented on illicit precious metal matters.
Gold, cocaine and Crime Intelligence
Last year, when two suspects were detained for allegedly possessing unwrought gold worth R16-million, Kadwa said: “The Hawks remain steadfast in their mission to dismantle illegal mining and smuggling networks. Criminals must understand that no one is beyond the reach of the law.
“We will continue to use every available resource to combat these unlawful activities that exploit our country’s precious metals for personal gain.”
He now faces related criminal charges and is expected in the same court as the two suspects whose case he commented on.
As for Khan, he was the head of Counter and Security Intelligence, and his name has surfaced in controversies, including one involving a R200-million cocaine consignment that was intercepted in Johannesburg in 2021.
Four suspects were detained, including two police officers, in that case, which was subsequently withdrawn. (It may still be reinstated.)
Daily Maverick reported that Khan had been accused of defeating the ends of justice and bringing the SAPS into disrepute concerning his presence at the 2021 interception.
But Khan, via court process, countered that his Crime Intelligence boss, Dumisani Khumalo, used the drug interception to try to get rid of him because of his investigation into the abuse of secret service funds, with possible links to Khumalo.
This suggested bad blood between Khan and Khumalo (who was arrested last year in a case about an allegedly irregular appointment that some police officers believed was crafted to smear Khumalo's name and impede Crime Intelligence investigations).
Police bosses denied that Khan was being dubiously targeted, and he was cleared in the 2021 cocaine saga.
His weekend arrest in the illicit precious metals case, along with that of Kadwa, is linked to what the SAPS described as “an intensive investigation” by the Gauteng Counterintelligence Operations team.
This is where the scandal expands.
Rival factions
Last year, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi held a press conference during which he alleged that a drug cartel had infiltrated South Africa’s politics, private security and the criminal justice system.
Mkhwanazi appears to be aligned with Khumalo and Masemola.
His accusations split the SAPS into two rival factions:
- Those who back Mkhwanazi’s whistleblowing and view cartel infiltration as a fundamental threat; and
- Those who dismiss Mkhwanazi’s claims as a duplicitous smokescreen designed to deflect from other criminality in policing.
Mkhwanazi had also accused sidelined police minister Senzo Mchunu of being pressured to order the disbandment of KwaZulu-Natal’s political killings task team.
Mchunu has denied wrongdoing.
Mkhwanazi’s version was that those aligned with the drug cartel had thought the Political Killings Task Team was investigating them, which is why they wanted it disbanded, while it was actually the Gauteng Counterintelligence Operations team investigating them.
Members of this team have investigated the case that has led to Khan and Kadwa’s arrests.
Adams — the detained MP
On Wednesday, 13 May, two days after Khan and Kadwa’s court appearance, the leader of the National Coloured Congress, Fadiel Adams, who seems to back Khan and be against Mkhwanazi, is expected to appear in a Pinetown court for a bail application.
He was arrested in Cape Town last week on allegations that he misrepresented himself as being on official parliamentary duty when he interviewed two inmates at the Westville Correctional Centre on 2 November 2024 and 24 January 2025.
/file/attachments/orphans/ED_607949_317262.jpg "Fadiel Adams in the Pinetown Magistrates’ Court on 7 May. He faces charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice over his alleged interference in a murder investigation. (Photo: Darren Stewart / Gallo Images)")
The case links to a matter Adams previously told Parliament about — that the hitman behind the 2017 murder of former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa confessed to him, and that Crime Intelligence allegedly supplied the assault rifle used in that killing.
Adams has criticised the police regarding the 2021 cocaine interception saga, claiming that Khan “was persecuted by ... high-ranking members of SAPS”.
In a witness statement to Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating Mkhwanazi’s allegations, Adams dismissed the commissioner’s bombshell press conference last year as “staged”.
“[It] peeled away the view I had of the general as the saviour of the SAPS,” said Adams.
The Masemola and Matlala matter
Also on Wednesday, the day of Adams’ bail application, Masemola is scheduled to appear in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court along with 12 senior police officers, organised crime accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, and one of Matlala’s business associates.
Aside from the criminal charges he faces, Matlala has been accused of corrupting police officers and being part of the drug cartel that Mkhwanazi and Khumalo alleged has infiltrated the state.
/file/attachments/orphans/ED_604864_432934.jpg "Suspended national police commissioner Fannie Masemola appears in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court in a case relating to a dubiously awarded tender. (Photo: Frennie Shivambu / Gallo Images)")
The case against Masemola and Matlala concerns a tender awarded under dubious circumstances two years ago to a company, Medicare 24 Tshwane District, run by Matlala.
The tender was budgeted at R360-million, but the State alleges that due to collusion with police officers, Matlala’s company was awarded the contract for R228-million.
Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa placed Masemola on precautionary suspension because of the criminal accusations he faces. Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane was appointed to act in Masemola’s place.
Some policing sources view Masemola’s arrest last month, along with Khumalo being criminally charged last year, as the Mkhwanazi-aligned group of law enforcers being targeted by rivals, including Khan, who has now also been detained.
These sources believe that tit-for-tat style arrests are being carried out. DM