Hawks detail many successes in several high-priority investigations

Since 2018, 55 of 187 people arrested have been convicted for the murder of police officials.

This was revealed on Tuesday by Hawks head Lt-Gen Godfrey Lebeya, who was reading from a list of 45 high-priority cases from the past four years.

Below is a list of some of those cases and crimes:

Case 22: Westenburg police official murdered

Const Pieter de Lange was murdered in Westenburg, Limpopo, while on duty on November 8 2018. In January 2019 Phuthi Mehlape, Peter Mswazi and Betty Maphotho were arrested and an unlicensed firearm and a stolen vehicle were recovered. During the investigation, Mehlape and Mswazi were linked to a hijacking in Polokwane on the day De Lange was killed.

They were convicted and sentenced. Mehlape received life imprisonment for murder, 15 years for possession of a firearm, 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, eight years for kidnapping and five years for possession of stolen vehicle. Mswazi was sentenced to 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and eight years for kidnapping. Maphotho received a three-year suspended sentence for defeating the ends of justice.

Case 23: A wife sentenced for murdering husband  

On November 3 2019, the body of W/O Thulani Ngwabe, who was stationed at the Margate family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit was found on the railway lines near Port Shepstone beach with multiple stab wounds.

His wife was arrested in December 2019. In June 2021, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court convicted and sentenced Nonkululeko Ngwabe to 22 years for killing her husband. Police believe she did it for “spousal encashment”.  The case against her three accomplices has been remanded for trial from October 3 to 23.

Case 24: The murder of Lt-Col Charl Kinnear  

The Hawks arrested 23 gang members on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, premeditated murder, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition as well as contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act after the murder of Lt-Col Charl Kinnear. The suspects include underworld figures. Also accused is Abongile Nqodi, who is serving an effective 20 years of direct imprisonment.

The accused will appear at the Blue Downs regional court on September 16 2022.

Case 25: Two Hawks officers killed during CIT robbery

Two Hawks members were killed in a cash-in-transit robbery that was to take place in Mahikeng. Three suspects were also killed at the time and a fourth was killed in a separate incident.

Nine accused are facing trial in the North West High Court, where the matter has been set for trial from August 29 to September 2.

Case 26: 16 Life and 680 years for bank robbers

In 2013 the banking industry suffered a spate of robberies and by the end of the year the robberies had increased to 14, up from nine in 2012. During 2014, bank robberies escalated to 25. Officials established that the robberies were perpetrated by the same group.

The Hawks' bank robbery task team arrested 12 suspects, including six Zimbabweans. The group had been involved in 20 different bank robberies predominantly in Gauteng. Eight were convicted for 31 counts including 11 bank robberies, two of racketeering activities, attempted murder, possession of unlicensed firearms, and malicious damage to property. On January 25 2019 they were sentenced to a combined 914 years.

Since 2018 the Hawks have arrested 726 suspects in connection with 826 cash-in-transit robberies. During the same period, 110 perpetrators were convicted and sentenced in 115 cases. Among the sentences were 77 life sentences.

Below are some of those cases:

Case 27: Eight life terms for CIT robbery

On February 1 2019, Special Task Force W/O Erasmus Musa and Lt-Col Carl van der Vyver from Crime Intelligence were fatally shot in a gun battle with heavily armed cash-in-transit robbers in Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal. Seven suspects were also killed.

Sandile Gumede was arrested after the incident and found in possession of the vehicle that was used during the robbery. On May 13 2021, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court sentenced Gumede to two life terms for the double murder and seven life terms for the murder of his seven accomplices. He was further sentenced to 20 years for cash-in-transit robbery and 10 years on each count of attempted murder. The sentences will run concurrently.

Case 28: 258 years' imprisonment for Limpopo robbers 

In Limpopo between September and October 2017, Boitumelo Aphane and Solly Monama  committed a series of cash-in-transit robberies at Polokwane, Seshego, Mankweng and Ritavi.

In October 2020, Aphane, who is serving 25 years for a similar offence, was found guilty on 24 counts and sentenced to 192 years' imprisonment. Monama was found guilty and sentenced to a total of 66 years in jail.

Case 29: City Mountain CIT projects

City Mountain I, II and III major case investigations were conducted and concluded in August 2018, July 2020 and November 2021 respectively. These major investigations targeted a criminal grouping involved in CIT robberies in Mpumalanga, the Free State, Limpopo, the North West and Gauteng. The goal of the investigation was to link the suspects to the cases in these provinces and prosecute them.

Eight suspects could be linked to 24 cases and they were indicted on 179 charges, including racketeering activity. Six accused will appear in the Mpumalanga High Court on February 6 2023 for trial. Two of the accused have since died.

In 2020 cases of theft of fuel from pipelines mushroomed and authorities managed to arrest 123 suspects. One of the successful cases is below: 

Case 30: Accused sentenced for theft of crude oil 

On August 1 2020 four Malawian men were arrested while stealing crude oil from the Transnet pipeline at Zamdela, Sasolburg. When the police arrived at the crime scene, they found the four loading crude oil from the valve into the truck. They were sentenced by the Sasolburg magistrate's court on March 18 2022. One perpetrator got 15 years in jail and the other three were sentenced to a fine of R1,000 or 30 days' imprisonment.