By Johnathan Paoli
Police captain Laurance Makgotloe remained in the hot seat after lunch at the Madlanga Commission on Monday over four errors in a ballistics report linked to the murder of Armand Swart, with evidence leaders as well as the commissioners questioning whether the mistakes were innocent or indicative of an attempt to undermine the investigation.
Testifying after the lunch adjournment, Makgotloe was led by the commission’s evidence leader, advocate Teboho Mosikili, and later questioned by commissioner Sandile Khumalo, who put it to the witness that the errors were material and potentially fatal to the prosecution’s case.
Khumalo reminded commission that Witnesses A and B had testified that Makgotloe informed them the firearms linked to the Swart murder were connected to 18 other cases.
Makgotloe denied this, insisting he did not have access to Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) data at the time and therefore “could not have said that”.
Khumalo then turned to the four errors identified in Makgotloe’s ballistics report, directly asking whether the mistakes were innocent or whether Makgotloe had been “really trying to sabotage” the murder investigation.
Makgotloe rejected the suggestion outright, contending that the allegations around the errors formed part of a concerted effort by the murder investigation team to “get” him.
“This is the normal operation of the ballistics. There was nothing sinister about this,” Makgotloe said, adding that it was not uncommon for reports to contain mistakes which were later corrected.
He characterised several of the errors as “typing errors” that should have been detected during the internal review process.
“That did not happen,” he said, explaining that ballistics experts were responsible for typing their own reports and that heavy workloads often resulted in oversights.
Makgotloe repeatedly maintained that the errors were the product of time pressures and not incompetence or negligence.
However, Mosikili put it squarely to Makgotloe that the errors in his initial report were “quite material to the outcome of the murder cases”, particularly because the report failed to draw a link between the murder weapon and the crime scene.
“So the report that you issued, it does not draw a link between the murder weapon and the murder scene, do you accept that?” Mosikili asked.
Makgotloe initially disputed this characterisation but later conceded that the link was not made in the first report.
Mosikili pressed further: “It’s important to the outcome of any criminal proceedings because if you cannot link ultimately the crime scene with a murder weapon, someone will go scot-free, you accept that?”
Makgotloe accepted this proposition.
Commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga expressed discomfort with Makgotloe going into detailed explanations of the errors, citing the potential implications for the Swart murder trial.
Nonetheless, Madlanga described Makgotloe’s assertion that errors were common in ballistics reports as “disturbing, given its implications on the criminal justice system”.
Mosikili added that it did “not sit well” with the commission that Makgotloe had been promoted despite the seriousness of the errors in question.
Earlier in his testimony, Makgotloe detailed events surrounding a late-night visit to the forensic science laboratory while he was on leave, saying he felt intimidated by the Swart murder investigation team.
He testified that officers insisted on going to the lab despite being informed that the case file had already been sent to KwaZulu-Natal.
“At about 21:00, the group took me inside their car and I was asked by one of the male officers if I had my office keys with me, which I confirmed I did,” he said.
Makgotloe testified that the officers suggested stopping at his home so he could fetch a jersey, but that he refused, stating: “I refused passing by my house due to the safety concerns I had, fearing that it would expose my family to the risk in the event that I was in the company of illegitimate police officers.”
Asked whether he persisted with allegations that he had been kidnapped by Witness B, Makgotloe said the matter was now before the National Prosecuting Authority.
Makgotloe concluded his testimony by reiterating that ballistics laboratories “prioritise quantity and not quality”, making typing errors more likely under immense workloads.
The commission adjourned and is set to resume on Tuesday morning.
INSIDE POLITICS