Elite detectives probe mysterious death of senior policeman

A team of specialised detectives is probing the death of deputy national police commissioner Lt-Gen Sindile Mfazi.

Mfazi, who headed the SAPS detective services and who had acted as crime intelligence unit head, was found dead in his Pretoria home in July by a colleague, a day after he tested positive for Covid-19.

News24 reported on Monday that Mfazi had been poisoned with a highly toxic resin.

According to Mfazi’s family, who spoke to TimesLIVE on Monday, he had just returned home from a business trip to Cape Town when he tested for the virus.

Mfazi’s relative, Lindela Mfazi, said Mfazi’s body was exhumed 10 days after his burial, on his family’s insistence, and toxicology tests conducted.

“We are waiting for a report from the police as to exactly what happened. We have always had our suspicions that there was foul play. The family now desperately wants answers.”

At the time of his death, Mfazi was said to be probing alleged irregularities around the procurement of Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) worth an estimated R1.6bn. The money is alleged to have come from the Crime Intelligence secret services account.

Police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo said a team of specialised detectives was investigating Mfazi’s death.

“Because of the sensitivity and high profile associated with the case, a specialised team has been assigned to the case.”

Asked what crime was being investigated, Naidoo declined to elaborate.

“All I am prepared to say is that a criminal investigation into this matter is under way. I will not comment on the nature of the investigation or whether it is a murder or culpable homicide investigation.”

He said an inquest into Mfazi’s death had been launched shortly after his funeral.

“It was a few weeks after the burial that the body was exhumed. The purpose of an inquest is to determine circumstances and cause of death.

“It is only after an inquest docket, and the evidence which it contains, is presented to an inquest prosecutor that a determination on the case can be made. Direction on the course the investigation must take is then given [to the investigators].”

Asked about allegations that Mfazi’s home was “cleaned up” and his work laptop and documents relating to the PPE investigation were missing, Naidoo said: “I don’t know anything about that.”

Independent Policing Union of SA general secretary Mpho Kwinika said the investigation needed to be thorough.

“It is alarming when the second-highest ranking officer in the SAPS dies under mysterious circumstances, though not surprising given the toxic environment some parts of the police service are in.

“Given the nature of the policing environment [crime intelligence] which Mfazi worked in, SA needs to be very worried.”

He said indications were that there was nothing amiss when Mfazi went to hospital for his Covid-19 test and that he was sent home and told to rest.

“If he was poisoned, as is alleged, why was the poison not detected? It is not just anyone who knows the workings of a poison and how to mask it. This must be thoroughly investigated.”

He said on the team investigating Mfazi’s death: “Nothing can be missed in this case. The medical staff who treated him must be thoroughly questioned as to why they did not detect a poison. All the medical tests done on him must be rechecked to see if anything was missed.

“Given what is happening within the crime intelligence division, and the battles for control, it must be investigated whether Mfazi’s death was to silence him or whether his death was linked to something that he was involved in.”

He said for a body to be exhumed, tangible evidence needed to be presented to a court.

“Police management must be forthcoming with the public about what pathologists found in regards to the toxicology tests they conducted.”

Kwinika said if it was confirmed that Mfazi was poisoned, it would not be surprising given how deadly the fight against corruption had become.

“Just look at what happened with the murder of the Gauteng health official Babita Deokaran.”

Deokaran was a senior financial officer in the Gauteng health department and a whistle-blower for the Special Investigating Unit on PPE corruption in the health department when she was shot dead in August outside her home in Winchester Hills, in the south of Johannesburg.

TimesLIVE