OBITUARY | Frank Dutton, one of SA’s finest detectives

21 January 2022 - 12:58
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Investigator Frank Dutton died on Wednesday at the age of 72. File photo.
Investigator Frank Dutton died on Wednesday at the age of 72. File photo.
Image: Arena Africa

Frank Kennan Dutton will arguably go down as one of country’s greatest detectives, whose work resulted in major breakthroughs in crimes against humanity in countries across the globe and on South African soil.  

Dutton died aged 72 after a stroke on Thursday.

At the time of his death he was a senior investigator with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Investigative Directorate after working on the state capture inquiry. 

He played leading roles in complex investigations in SA and many other countries, including Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Sudan (Darfur), Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Cameroon, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Brazil and East Timor.

On Thursday acting chief justice and state capture inquiry chairperson Raymond Zondo said:  “I was very saddened to hear of Mr Dutton’s passing on. He was one of the best detectives and investigators this country has produced. This country benefited immensely from his skill and dedication. Many other countries also benefited from his experience and skill.

Mr Dutton is an inspiration and his legacy will inspire all of us as we continue the huge task of responding to the findings and recommendations of the state capture commission report, and holding those responsible for corruption in our country, to account.
National director of public prosecutions  advocate Shamila Batohi

“We are grateful to Mr Dutton for his commitment to the work of the commission. We shall miss him a great deal.

“On behalf of everyone in the commission — his fellow investigators, the commission’s legal team and the secretariat — I send our condolences to his wife, Vanessa, his children and the entire family.”

National director of public prosecutions, advocate Shamila Batohi, said Dutton’s passing was a huge loss to the fight for justice and accountability.

“However, justice and the rule of law will prevail. Mr Dutton is an inspiration and his legacy will inspire all of us as we continue the huge task of responding to the findings and recommendations of the state capture commission report, and holding those responsible for corruption in our country to account.”

Dutton’s friend, advocate Howard Varney, who confirmed his death, provided insight into some of the major cases he had taken on and cracked during his 40-year service with the police and after retirement when he worked on international cases as a police expert and private investigator.

Dutton joined the police in 1966. After undergoing a year’s training in Pretoria, he was deployed to KwaZulu-Natal for general policing duties at Greenwood Park, Glendale and Tongaat police stations.

While serving in Tongaat, Dutton was appointed as a detective, a career path he would undertake until his death.

During the political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, Dutton was appointed head of the Durban West field unit responsible for investigating serious violence cases.

His most prominent investigations during the political violence of the 1980s were the murder investigation and conviction of Samuel Jamile, former deputy minister of interior for the KwaZulu-Natal government, and the Trust Feed case in which Capt Brian Mitchell and several KwaZulu-Natal police officers were convicted on 13 counts of murder.

The LA Times reported that the 11 death sentences handed down against Mitchell brought to end a historic trial that “uncovered the clearest evidence yet that government security forces were directly responsible for at least some of the bloody factional fighting between rival black groups in Natal province”.

In an address to the Organisation of African Unity ad hoc committee for Southern Africa on April 28 1992 in Tanzania, then president Nelson Mandela highlighted the Trust Feed case and contribution it had made towards successful negotiations for a democratic SA.

Dutton’s work in the early 1990s  exposed the involvement of the top police command structure in the murder of political opponents and activists, and exposed the work of the police security branch hit squads under Eugene de Kock at Vlakplaas.

Dutton’s work in the early 1990s also exposed the involvement of the top police command structure in the murder of political opponents and activists, and the work of the police security branch hit squads under Eugene de Kock at Vlakplaas.

In 1994 he established and commanded the investigation task unit probing KwaZulu-Natal police “hit squads” in connection with the 1987 KwaMakhutha massacre.

In 1996 Mandela seconded Dutton to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), where he assisted in the ICTY’s investigations into genocide‚ war crimes and crimes against humanity in Bosnia and Croatia.

At the end of 1997 he was appointed to head the ICTY office in Sarajevo, where he facilitated all ICTY investigations, including the exhumations of mass graves, in Bosnia.

In 1998 he was promoted to the rank of commander and commanded all field investigations in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.

He returned to SA in December 1999 after being recalled by the government and was appointed as a director-general within the department of justice and tasked to establish and head the new Directorate of Special Operations, also known as the Scorpions, a specialised investigative unit. He remained in this position until his retirement in April 2004. 

After his retirement, Dutton was selected by a UN Security Council appointed Commission of Inquiry to investigate and assist the commission in determining the causes of violence in Darfur during the latter part of 2004.

He was appointed in 2005 by UN Mission in the DRC to investigate incidents of sexual abuse against women. He investigated incidents of violence for a Security Council-appointed panel of experts for Sudan in 2005/2006.

In 2007 he returned to SA after being selected to serve on a panel to review evidence against then police commissioner Jackie Selebi and to make a recommendation to the director of national prosecutions in respect of prosecution.

Dutton’s impressive portfolio saw him investigate procurement irregularities in the awarding of a multibillion-dollar hydroelectric power contract in the DRC on behalf of the World Bank. The contract was found to be corrupt and was subsequently withdrawn.

In September 2011 he was appointed by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to conduct an assessment of the Seychelles police service. The following year he was tasked to restructure the country’s police service.

Dutton’s work over two years saw serious crime levels in Seychelles drop by 30%. His work extended to investigations into international piracy incidents in the high sea surrounding Seychelles. As a result, more than 100 Somalian pirates were convicted.

In 2012 Dutton was awarded the Order of Baobab in Gold by former president Jacob Zuma for his policing work locally and abroad. The citation can be found on the presidency's website

In January 2017 Dutton came back to the province where his detective work had started when he was appointed to serve on a task team to advise provincial government on steps to reduce rhino poaching in KwaZulu-Natal.

His final appointment came the next year, when he started work as an investigator for the state capture inquiry.

He joined the Investigating Directorate into State Capture during 2021. 

Former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen described Dutton as “very unassuming”. 

“I knew Frank when he was a police lieutenant in the 1980s. I recall working on a joint suspect raid with him one evening. He was a very unassuming person — private, in-the-background type of guy. Always dedicated to the investigation,” he said.

He said after losing contact in 1987 they reconnected when Dutton took up his post at the state capture inquiry.

“We met often to discuss my evidence at the Zondo commission. He encouraged me to testify and expose the capture of rogue elements within the NPA and law enforcement. His expertise as an investigator will leave a void.”

TimesLIVE


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