By Johnathan Paoli
Divisional Commissioner for National Priority Offences Operations at the Hawks, Lieutenant General Dumisani Mbotho, testified on Monday that he was unaware of who lived at the luxurious Sandton property where alleged underworld boss Katiso Molefe was arrested.
“I had no idea whose house that was,” Mbotho told the Madlanga Commission, denying claims that the Hawks deliberately interfered with the Police Killings Task Team’s (PKTT) lawful arrest operation.
He said he only discovered months later—during KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s 6 July 2025 press briefing—that the house belonged to Molefe.
Mbotho further testified that on the day of the arrest, he received a call from then-Hawks head Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya, inquiring whether he was aware of a Hawks operation taking place in Sandton.
“He said he’d received a call stating that there were members of the DPCI (Hawks) who were allegedly sent by him at a certain address,” Mbotho recalled.
Asked by Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga whether Lebeya had identified the source of this call, Mbotho admitted he had not asked.
Mbotho said he later contacted Brigadier Kenneth Mokoena, who sent him an image of an Audi vehicle that did not belong to the police.
Mbotho interpreted this to mean that the car was at the scene of the Molefe arrest. “I wanted to ascertain whether the police on the scene were genuine,” he explained.
However, he could not explain why Mokoena sent him multiple pictures of the Audi before any Hawks officers had even arrived at the scene.
Mbotho told the commission that his primary concern was verifying whether those claiming to be Hawks officers were genuine.
He said South Africa had recorded 33 cases of criminals falsely claiming to be police officers, which had made him cautious.
Justice Madlanga pressed him on whether his testimony was pedantic, noting that Mbotho had alternated between saying he wanted to verify the operation’s legitimacy and to check if the officers were genuine.
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo asked whether knowing Crime Intelligence head General Dumisani Khumalo could have helped him verify the officers’ legitimacy.
Mbotho said it would not have.
“I wanted to be able to tell General Lebeya that claims that Hawks officers had been sent by him were false,” he said.
When asked why the Hawks remained at the Molefe property for nearly an hour after confirming the operation was legitimate, Mbotho said he did not understand why that happened.
Mbotho firmly denied ever speaking to a man named “Mr Mthethwa”, who other witnesses claim phoned him about the Molefe arrest.
He challenged the commission to obtain his phone records to verify that no such call had occurred.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi, however, said it was unlikely a member of the public would falsely claim to have spoken to him.
Baloyi suggested that the allegations against Molefe could create an incentive for senior police officials to distance themselves from him, but Mbotho noted that there were no known accusations against Mthethwa himself.
Evidence leader Lee Segeels-Ncube reminded the hearing that PKTT officer Captain Wanda had testified that Mthethwa handed him a cell phone to deliver to Mokoena, implying that Mokoena did know Mthethwa.
Baloyi questioned why Mbotho sent Hawks vehicles to Molefe’s home with no information except for an allegation, calling it reckless.
Mbotho disagreed.
“The best approach was to send a single car to scout the scene,” he said, insisting that Captain Kruger, who led the team, could have called off other units if nothing was amiss.
Commissioner Khumalo said Mbotho’s explanation confused him, pointing out that Mbotho both supported Kruger’s mobilisation and claimed it was just reconnaissance.
Mbotho disagreed, saying the approach saved time.
He added that he assumed Kruger was in Johannesburg and did not realise he was in Pretoria, battling rush-hour traffic to Sandton.
He also defended his decision not to call the local Sandton SAPS, arguing that marked police vehicles and uniformed officers would have been too conspicuous and potentially endangered their lives.
Mbotho acknowledged that there was no official record of the Hawks’ verification visit to Molefe’s home.
Commissioner Khumalo said testimony from Wanda and Witness A indicated that Hawks officers asked for Molefe’s case number and arrest details.
“We did not send them to do that,” Mbotho replied, adding that he did not know why Hawks officers made those requests.
Khumalo said the 50-minute delay after verifying the operation’s legality could be interpreted as intimidation.
Mbotho admitted that, in light of this, he was “not surprised” that the Hawks now faced accusations of interference.
The day’s session ended with Justice Madlanga adjourning, noting that the testimony directly tied former Hawks boss Godfrey Lebeya to the KT Molefe arrest, a link that continues to deepen the commission’s probe into alleged police corruption and internal sabotage.
The commission continues on Tuesday morning at 9:30.
INSIDE POLITICS
