By Johnathan Paoli
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Lieutenant-Colonel Nkoana Sebola has maintained that he neither saw nor interacted with Gauteng Crime Intelligence (CI) head Major-General Feroz Khan during the 2021 Aeroton cocaine bust, despite multiple witnesses testifying since Monday that Khan was at the scene.
Questioning Sebola during the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Thursday, commissioner Sesi Baloyi suggested the Hawks officer had deliberately omitted Khan from his account, saying the omission created an “uncomfortable impression”.
“His presence at the scene gives me the uncomfortable impression that you made a deliberate decision to keep General Khan’s name out of your mouth and out of your statement,” Baloyi said.
Resuming his testimony after lunch, Sebola told the commission that after arresting Warrant Officer Marumo Magane of the Crime Information Management and Analysis Centre, Warrant Officer Steve Phakula of the National Intervention Unit, Deputy Director Samuel Mashaba of Gauteng Traffic Police and informant Tumelo Nku for allegedly interfering in the cocaine bust, Gauteng Hawks head Major-General Ebrahim Kadwa contacted him.
According to Sebola, Kadwa asked him to visit Phakula in prison because Khan wanted investigators to hear something from him.
Sebola said he visited Phakula with two other warrant officers, during which Phakula allegedly claimed the drugs belonged to Khan.
“The only thing Phakula wanted to tell me was that he is working with General Khan and those are his drugs,” Sebola said.
He added that Phakula was unwilling to formalise the allegation in a statement.
The commission, however, challenged Sebola’s version, noting that several witnesses, including Phakula, had testified that Khan played an active role at the Aeroton warehouse.
Earlier on Thursday, Phakula testified that according to “corridor rumours”, the drugs belonged to Khan and that the CI boss laughed when he confronted him about it.
Sebola denied deliberately omitting Khan from his testimony, insisting none of the witnesses he interviewed identified Khan as someone they had dealt with during the operation.
“None of them, when I was interviewing them, indicated to me that this is the person that we were dealing with. I could not have ignored what happened because if I was aware that he once placed himself on the scene, I would have interviewed him one-on-one,” he said.
Baloyi said it was difficult to believe that an investigating officer would not have noticed Khan if he had indeed been active at the scene.
Evidence leader Advocate Thabang Pooe further pressed Sebola, pointing out that multiple statements placed Khan at the warehouse.
“It’s worth noting that just in the docket, at least five individuals, including Khan, place themselves at the scene, and some of these statements were taken in the same month of the incident,” she said.
Pooe also noted that Sebola failed to mention Khan’s presence while testifying at the CI boss’s disciplinary hearing.
“But in Major General Khan’s disciplinary hearing, you were called to testify and there, too, you don’t mention anything about Khan’s presence, and so it does beg the question whether the silence is deliberate given the many statements that mention Major General Khan’s presence,” she said.
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo echoed the concern.
“It leaves an uncomfortable feeling that when you came here, you knew that there is this statement because it was given to you by staying, and you were told by IPID that Khan was there. People say he was there, and you don’t mention that part,” he said.
The commission also heard evidence linking the Aeroton bust to the R200 million cocaine seizure in Isipingo, near Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, in June 2021.
Sebola testified that cellphone downloads from informant Tumelo Nku’s device revealed encrypted messages discussing fears that police could intercept the Aeroton shipment “like the one they did at Isipingo”.
According to Sebola, one message read: “Those containers are still there boss.”
He said Nku relayed concerns about the consignment to Mashaba, who allegedly reassured him that “they will be safe”.
Addressing the criminal case against the four accused linked to the bust, Sebola said several police officers later submitted statements supporting the defence, contributing to the collapse of the prosecution.
He said witnesses later became hostile, including Scania warehouse employee Jolene Wenzel, resulting in the matter being struck from the roll and referred to the National Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision.
Sebola said he was later promoted to lieutenant-colonel and transferred to Limpopo, which marked the end of his involvement in the matter.
Proceedings adjourned for the day, with Sebola expected to complete his testimony at a later date.
The commission is expected to hear Brown Mogotsi’s recusal application against chief evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson on Friday morning.
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