Minefield of information, says Lebeya amid probe into instigators of July unrest

Lebeya testified at the South African Human Rights Commission's hearings into the unrest on Tuesday.

Lebeya said there are 12 matters still under investigation.  

The Hawks is working alongside the National Prosecuting Authority to asses whether these 12 matters can proceed to court. 

“South Africans can rest assured that we have these matters on priority, we are seeking and evaluating them daily. All participate in the forum that we sit understand that these matters need to be finalised without delay,” said Lebeya. 

He told the commission it would be difficult to give timelines, as some of the matters include combing through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to get information that links suspects to the crime. 

Lebeya said the investigation that led to the arrest on Tuesday took longer than anticipated as some of these suspects use social media profiles with hidden identities. 

He said while these social media companies are cooperating with the Hawks, it’s taking to bring matters to court. 

“For the purpose of going to court you need mutual legal assistance because some of the information we have assists us for our investigation but to take the matter to court we need mutual legal assistance to be able to get that information admissible in court, this takes time."