By Johnathan Paoli
IPID senior investigator Nomsa Masuku has told the Madlanga Commission that she and her team faced threats, intimidation and hostility while investigating the murder of Emmanuel Mbhense; while key witness Marius van der Merwe remained a suspect until his assassination and repeatedly warning investigators that their lives were in danger.
Leading her evidence before the Commission, Masuku broke down in tears as she described the toll the investigation has taken on her family and colleagues.
“Our lives are at risk. I was shot at on the N17; my kids were inside the car,” she said.
Masuku testified that in December 2024 her vehicle was shot at while she was driving with her children. In a separate incident, her son was shot and wounded.
Masuku confirmed she cannot definitively link the attacks to suspects in the Brakpan murder case, as she handles several sensitive investigations, but that for 16 months, her team of IPID investigators required home protection after threats escalated.
Central to her testimony was the role of Marius van der Merwe, known as Witness D, who approached IPID in 2022 claiming to have witnessed Mbhense’s torture and killing in Brakpan.
Van der Merwe later testified before the Commission but was assassinated before completing his evidence.
Masuku confirmed that van der Merwe was never placed under witness protection and remained a suspect at the time of his death.
“As of his death Marius van der Merwe was not a Section 204 witness, he remained a suspect. Only the NDPP can make that decision,” she said.
She further testified that van der Merwe had not fully disclosed all information to investigators, pointing out that he had disclosed certain details and information to the commission that he did not tell her team.
Despite this, she feared for his safety.
“I was not happy when Marius came to testify. I was protecting him. My only concern was his life,” she told the Commission.
Masuku read Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi’s warning statement into the record, stating that he was called at 2am by Jaco Hanekom to attend what he described as a “crime scene which was not an EMPD operation”.
He said he found marked, unmarked and private vehicles at the scene and “plus minus nine white males” inside the yard.
According to his statement, he suspected they “wanted to take stuff from the truck”, shouted at Hanekom for waking him for an operation unrelated to EMPD duties, and left after being told “everything is sorted”.
Masuku testified that officers were on duty and driving state vehicles, yet there was no official record of any lawful operation at Mbhense’s home.
She added that SAPS and EMPD members “took instructions from a private person” to search the house, in following a personal complaint, and described the has as being ransacked
Masuku rejected allegations that IPID had stalled the case or protected implicated officers.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. We could not give updates, we were investigating their own members. Keeping it secret was necessary. Not only would the case be undermined, our lives would be in grave jeopardy,” she said.
She said secrecy was so strict that even some IPID colleagues were unaware of the investigation’s details.
Masuku warned that sharing full dockets for municipal disciplinary processes exposes witnesses.
“EMPD refuses to discipline officers unless IPID hands over the full docket, including witness names. By the time we get to trial, they’re gone. We end up losing,” she said.
Masuku said the docket is now before the Director of Public Prosecutions in North Gauteng, Sibongile Mzinyathi, with a prosecutor assigned.
IPID is awaiting authorisation to prosecute implicated SAPS and EMPD members.
Concluding her testimony, Masuku appealed for protection for her fellow investigators.
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