Five things you need to know about Madlanga’s new investigative stream

The Madlanga commission of inquiry on Wednesday started a new investigative stream to probe whether a KwaZulu-Natal police task team has been infiltrated by criminals.

The commission on Thursday continued to hear evidence in this regard, and the first witness to take the stand was Gregory Loftus, the father of slain businessman Bevan Loftus, who was allegedly shot and killed by the task team.

It is alleged that some drug dealers, taxi operators and cash-in-transit heist robbers are using the task team to eliminate their competitors.

Here are five things you need to know:

• Gregory Loftus, Bevan’s father, told the commission that his son was not a drug dealer or in the business of killing people. He said these allegations were a cover-up by police to justify his son’s killing.
• Loftus said the day before his son was murdered, he had filed an interdict application against Col Deena Govender of the Hawks because he was informed that he had been offered R2,5m to eliminate Bevan by a competitor in the tow truck business.
• The commission heard that tow trucks in the province are used for transporting drugs.
• Retired police Capt Ashley Houston, who was the first responder at the scene where Bevan was shot, described him as “notorious” and said he hung out with a dangerous gang.
• Loftus said that while Bevan knew some of the Hollywood gang members because he grew up with them, his son never belonged to any gang.

Sowetan