Hawks boss denies knowledge of Katiso Molefe’s residence during Sandhurst arrest

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