By Johnathan Paoli
Suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi has denied Witness K’s allegations that he helped plan a Killarney precious-stones theft and later shared in the R110,000 allegedly paid after the stones were seized.
At the Madlanga Commission on Wednesday afternoon, commissioners repeatedly challenged inconsistencies in Mkhwanazi’s version and accused him of evading direct answers as they weighed his evidence against Witness K’s detailed account.
Evidence leader Advocate Mahlape Sello took Mkhwanazi through Witness K’s statement, in which she alleges the pair were romantically involved, jointly planned the February 2023 operation and later divided R110,000 allegedly paid by an informer after the valuable stones had been seized.
Mkhwanazi rejected almost every allegation.
“I deny this. I deny meeting at the car wash. I don’t know which car wash. I deny anything that has to do with money. There is no way that I will stand here and say that the stones were taken and they are somewhere,” Mkhwanazi said.
Asked whether Witness K’s claim that he had introduced her to EMPD officers Kershia Leigh Stols and Aiden McKenzie before the operation was true, Mkhwanazi denied introducing them to her, but acknowledged that Witness K knew both officers.
Mkhwanazi suggested Witness K had longstanding relationships with EMPD personnel independent of him.
“She’s always with EMPD officers. She stays in Ekurhuleni. She associates. She enjoys life with EMPD officers. I know they go to Durban together. She’s close to them, her lifestyle is in the City of Ekurhuleni,” he said.
Sello confronted Mkhwanazi with Witness K’s account that she sourced the intelligence regarding illegally held stones, while he assembled the operational team.
According to Witness K, the group met at a Nando’s restaurant before officers proceeded to the Killarney apartment where the stones were seized.
Mkhwanazi denied the meeting entirely.
He also disputed Witness K’s allegation that the group later met at a car wash where R110,000 was divided among five participants.
“I never received any cash from this officer [Witness K],” he said.
Instead, Mkhwanazi maintained that the seized stones had been properly handed over to a Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officer and repeatedly said he had himself sought answers about what became of the exhibits.
The commission also tested Mkhwanazi’s explanation that Witness K had somehow participated in planning the operation while deliberately keeping herself out of sight.
He suggested her conduct now appeared suspicious.
“She was supposed to be there and be visible. She decided to hide herself, not to be seen. It tells me something now. Something is coming in my mind,” he said.
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo repeatedly challenged that explanation, questioning how McKenzie and Stols could have known the Killarney address unless Witness K had directed them there.
Mkhwanazi ultimately accepted that possibility, but Khumalo accused him of withholding that information during earlier appearances before the commission.
“You were deliberate when you said that you didn’t know Witness K. You were not truthful then or truthful now. You have to stop playing games. If you are in the business of playing games, this is a serious Commission of Inquiry,” he said.
He added that Mkhwanazi’s version simply did not make sense.
“As commissioners, at the end of the day, we are going to have to weigh your evidence against Witness K’s evidence… because you say she’s not telling the truth and she has given a version which differs materially from yours, it means we must form a view that one of you is lying. And once we have formed that view, consequences will follow,” he said.
Supporting documentation before the commission, however, appeared to corroborate parts of Witness K’s account regarding her involvement in the operation.
Statements by EMPD officers Aiden McKenzie and Kersha-Leigh Stols, as well as civilian and Titen Security owner Etienne van der Walt, all describe a JMPD officer providing intelligence, speaking to the apartment owner by telephone during the search, and later receiving the seized stones and SAPS seizure documentation after officers left the Killarney flat.
“I personally saw the boxes being placed into the boot of her [Witness K] vehicle. I also heard her state that she would provide the SAP13 exhibit number,” van der Walt said in his statement.
The commission continues.
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