Senior Crime Intelligence officer Feroz Khan appears in the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court on 11 May. (Photo: OJ Koloti / Gallo Images) /file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/label-analysis-2.jpg)
Deputy Crime Intelligence boss Feroz Khan’s latest legal move is “a gross abuse of process” and a “sham,” according to Madlanga Commission attorney Mari Wilsnach. In an affidavit, Wilsnach argued Khan’s ex parte (where only one party appears in court) application was merely an attempt to bypass flaws in his main urgent court bid.
Khan is fighting to recover state-owned devices seized from his Houghton home by the Political Killings Task Team on 10 May, arguing that the data could expose covert operations and trigger “assassinations”. Khan is currently out on bail on separate precious metals charges, an arrest he shares with former Gauteng Hawks chief Major General Ebrahim Kadwa.
Attempted blackout
Wilsnach’s affidavit outlines how Khan actively sought to bypass the commission while locking the press and public out of his court application. She noted that Khan was well aware he required the commission’s consent, having been explicitly informed of this on Friday, 5 June. Furthermore, he had been alerted to the “fatal defect” in his application and was invited to withdraw it at that stage.
“He refused to withdraw the application,” she added. “He said he would await the answering affidavit and deal with the point in his reply.”
Instead of withdrawing or replying to the main urgent application, Khan chose to launch a separate ex parte application without any justification, Wilsnach stated.
And it was here that Khan unknowingly aimed his gun at his foot.
Pressed for time
Wilsnach said Khan had elected to set down the matter for hearing on Tuesday, 9 June, a timeframe which was “punishingly short”.
“Despite this, after he received the commission respondents’ answering affidavit, General Khan did not prepare his replying affidavit,” she said.
The “super injunction” Khan wanted would have forced a normally public court hearing in camera (behind closed doors), sealing the case files from public view. But the gamble failed. The court’s senior judge flagged the request to Acting Deputy Judge President Lebogang Modiba, who directed that the ex parte papers be released to the commission and the general public.
And so, in trying to hide the case, Khan effectively shot himself in the foot.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/judge_lebogang_modiba_source_judges_matter.jpg "Acting Deputy Judge President Lebogang Modiba. (Photo: Oupa Nkosi for Judges Matter)")
The code had already been cracked
The released documents reveal how investigators from the commission were able to analyse SA Police Service extraction reports from Feroz’s devices two days after they were confiscated.
On Monday, 1 June, the police delivered a BitLocker-encrypted hard drive containing the data extraction to the commission’s forensic experts. The team created a drive image and shared copies of the extraction reports with investigators and evidence leaders that same day.
By Wednesday, 3 June — the day Khan served his urgent interdict application — investigators had already substantially analysed the data. To speed up their legal response, investigator Tshepo Nyatlo focused on illustrative examples of evidence rather than the entire dataset, specifically targeting WhatsApp conversations between Khan and Mohamed “Mo” Sayed, a Carnilinx tobacco executive and alleged smuggler.
The analysis was further narrowed to an Apple iPhone 11, containing chats between the two that ended in June 2023. By focusing on this historical data from a specific relationship, investigators quickly identified evidence of alleged procurement manipulation, political interference and illegal tobacco industry activities.
While this targeted analysis allowed for a quick turnaround to oppose Khan’s legal application, Nyatlo noted that a “substantial body of additional evidence” existed across the multiple devices that the commission intended to investigate further.
Julius Malema & Co
Khan has been summoned to appear before the commission on 1 July to answer to questions about his relationships with various high-profile individuals and persons of interest named in the affidavit .
The individuals include:
- Julius Malema: Leader of the EFF.
- Adriano Mazzotti: CEO of Carnilinx.
- Matipandile Sotheni: An alleged murderer currently in custody who worked for Sayed.
- “Ze” Khumalo: Implicated in using Sayed’s company, Onyx Aviation, to fund a London trip for Ekurhuleni City Manager Imogen Mashazi.
- Brown Mogotsi: An information peddler and alleged “Big Five” cartel member.
- Vusumuzi “Cat” Matala.
- Wiandre Pretorius: A security operative for whom Khan allegedly secured a job with Sayed.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Julius.jpg "Julius Malema with businessman Adriano Mazzotti. (Photo: X)")
Call for suspension
Meanwhile, the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, Ian Cameron, has called for Khan’s suspension.
“The arrest of a senior Crime Intelligence officer undermines a strategic pillar of policing. It also exposes the extent of the rot that continues to plague the SAPS Crime Intelligence environment,” said Cameron DM