Madlanga Commission: IPID points to possible criminal infiltration of CIT task team
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate alleges that a KwaZulu-Natal police task team established to investigate cash-in-transit robberies may have been exploited by organised crime groups to eliminate their rivals.
IPID Deputy Director for Investigations Len John testified before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into alleged criminality and political interference in the criminal justice system on Wednesday.
John said the majority of shootings involving alleged CIT suspects involve a task team under Lieutenant-Colonel Deena Govender.
He said the directorate had identified a strikingly similar pattern in these operations.
According to John, task team members generally say they received information from Crime Intelligence about the whereabouts of suspects linked to CIT robberies.
But he said the information was often not independently verified against other investigations, case dockets or the detectives responsible for those cases.
John said the operations were then planned, frequently between 11pm and 3am.
He said this was significant because it is a time when there is a reduced likelihood of witnesses.
John said members were also frequently dressed in civilian clothing, balaclavas or face masks, without visible SAPS insignia.
Despite this, he said officers consistently claim that they identify themselves as police when approaching the premises.
According to John, police then allege that they come under fire from the suspects and return fire in self-defence.
But IPID's investigations have raised questions about what happens during these operations.
LITTLE TO NO EVIDENCE RECOVERED FROM SCENES
John said that in most of the crime scenes where alleged CIT suspects are killed, all suspects and occupants present are killed, leaving no witnesses other than the police officers involved.
He said investigators also frequently do not find the kind of evidence expected at a scene involving CIT suspects.
“No high calibre rifles, explosives, components to manufacture explosives or money have been found.”
John testified that IPID usually finds only homemade firearms, pistols or revolvers, which, he says, are pointed out by the police officers implicated in the shootings.
He also told the commission that there was often little evidence supporting the claim that police acted in self-defence.
"Despite members of the Task Team consistently alleging that they only open fire after having been shot at by suspects, in the overwhelming majority of cases there is no evidence of any SAPS member being shot, even in their bullet proof vests.”
Perhaps most significantly, John said the police cannot always establish who the people killed were.
He added that the commander of the task team was frequently unable to provide the names or identities of the deceased, and very rarely provides the SAPS case numbers in which they were allegedly implicated in CIT robberies.
"[These leave] a suspicion that the so-called suspects killed during these operations may not have been involved in any CIT robberies.”
John said this was particularly concerning because the task team is specifically operating on intelligence about alleged CIT suspects.
He said in cases where people are killed for alleged involvement in CIT heists, there is often “no meaningful evidence” linking them to those crimes in KwaZulu-Natal.
IN THE AFTERMATH
John also raises concerns about what happens after the shootings.
He said IPID was often not notified immediately, allowing task team members leave the crime scene before the police watchdog can arrive, which interfered with IPID's ability to investigate the killings properly.
John believes the pattern points to something more disturbing than simply flawed police operations.
“The modus operandi utilised by the members appear to be designed not to arrest suspects to have them linked to an alleged crime that has been investigated but rather to kill the suspects.”
EXPLOITATION BY CRIMINAL GANGS
The investigator raised the concern of the possibility of the task team being exploited by organised crime.
He said the existence of a task team able to kill suspects without apparent consequences could be used by criminal groups wanting to eliminate rivals.
"It is also open to exploitation by organised crime gangs wanting to pay for rivals to be killed.”
The Commission has also heard allegations that members of the task team may have been used in taxi-related conflicts.
John cites incidents in which information allegedly came from rival taxi operators and says there were cases where people were fatally shot despite there being no evidence linking them to CIT robberies.
He said this raises questions about whether a police unit tasked with pursuing cash-in-transit suspects was, in some instances, being used for purposes beyond its mandate.
John's statement also details the deaths of Bevan Loftus, Sihle Zondi, Ryan Santos, Chase Fynn and Michigan Hippolyte.
He said these cases had a range of disturbing features consistent with allegations of deliberate extra-judicial killings paid for by an organised-crime competitor.
In relation to Bevan Loftus, John points to an interdict application filed by his father, Gregory Loftus, the day before his son's death, specifically seeking to prevent his killing by Lieutenant-Colonel Govender.
He also refers to an alleged R2.5 million offer for Loftus's killing.
John further details alleged cash deposits and payments amounting to just over R2.5-million involving Govender and his wife in the 16 months following August 2022.
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