An investigator probing organised crime has told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that he believes there was tampering with ballistic evidence linked to the murder of Vereeniging engineer, Armand Swart.
Three witnesses, identified as witness A, B and C testified about attempts to bribe officials to secure bail, warnings from experts about the dangerous involvement of certain individuals, and suspicions of evidence manipulation related to ballistics reports connected to the murder case.
The commission is investigating allegations of criminality, corruption and political interference in the justice system.
The investigator testified partially in camera on Monday and can only be referred to as witness A.
Swart, an employee at Q Tech Engineering Company based in Vereeniging, was shot and killed while seated in his vehicle outside his workplace by two suspects who were driving a white Hyundai i20 on April 17 2024. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead at the scene.
He was shot 23 times in a hit-style shooting meant for a colleague involved in reporting corruption.
According to witness A, on the day of Swart’s murder, police arrested three people including a policeman and a detective stationed at Johannesburg Central police station - Michael Pule Tau, Musa Kekana and Tiego Floyd Mabusela.
He also testified that the trio are allegedly linked to Katiso “KT” Molefe, who is accused of the murder of Pretoria club owner Oupa John Sefoka, better known as DJ Sumbody.
In a Mercedes-Benz Viano at the crime scene belonging to Tau, police found a transparent plastic bag with 15 cartridges, which were later taken for ballistic testing.
Witness A told the commission that after they received the ballistic report which they had asked Gauteng crime investigation services head Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri to expedite during a meeting he initiated in his Pretoria office, the results came back but there were omissions in the report.
“We found that there was some omissions or there was something missing that was very crucial in order to link the two scenes ― the scene that happened in Bramley and the scene that happened in Vereeniging,” he said.
He said though the ballistic expert acknowledged receiving the cartridges, it was not conclusive on whether they were linked to the crime.
“I believe that this was tampering that was aimed at not linking the suspect to this case,” he said.
Witness A told the commission that the expert had at some point told him and his colleague that they needed to be careful on this case, because the firearms were also involved in a lot of shootings around Gauteng and KZN. They were also involved in cash heists.
The expert allegedly warned that even communicating openly to other people about the case was dangerous, because it seemed the people involved were very dangerous.
The witness said despite the expert saying there was an error, a second report he created to rectify the error still did not reflect any information linking the 15 cartridges.
He said around September 2024 they decided to take the firearms from Swart’s murder investigation to another lab in KwaZulu-Natal to see whether there were any linkages.
Witness A said Shibiri told them that bribe money was on offer for the suspects to be released on bail pending trial.
“I left that meeting feeling that General Shibiri was trying to find out what evidence we had that linked the suspects to the murder and how strong our case was at the time, and second, to bait us to see if we could be influenced.
“Hence, the reference to the envelopes being available. It seems to me that if we were not agreeable to take the envelopes, which was indeed the case, then technically, he did not offer us a bribe, but he was merely informing us that there was a bribe up for grabs,” he told the commission.
Witness A said after being denied bail, Tau brought another application based on new facts and it was granted.
He said before this Vusi Ndlala, a friend whom he had know in the line of work, had told him that he would get bail by paying his way out and if it fails he would escape and if he fails he would eliminate the investigating officers.
The witness also told the commission how he was threatened, intimidated and tailed after leaving court when the suspects appeared.
TimesLIVE
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