Meet the ex-SAPS detectives who are still responding to the call of duty

Sam Lebese, 51, a private investigator who worked in the South African Police Service for almost 22 years, continues to live by the oath he took years ago, though now he does so without a badge and without donning his usual blue police uniform.

Lebese said leaving the police service did not stop his calling of helping put criminals behind bars and ensuring victims of crime get justice. 

Lebese retired from the SAPS in 2013 and joined G9 Forensic. He subsequently joined Ferrous Metal Processors as the company's investigator and head of security.

He has since started his own investigating company. Though he can't reveal details of most of the cases in which he helped residents get justice, he has been assisting police who have asked for help.

“Cases like the Bokgabo Poo case. The four-year-old girl who was raped and murdered. I was actively involved in cracking the case,” he said.

Poo was kidnapped while at a park in Wattville in Benoni. She was lured by her abductor who promised her sweets. Her lifeless body was found a short distance from her home. She had been raped and mutilated. 

After her case made headlines, her abductor was eventually arrested. However, loopholes led to her abductor being acquitted of this crime, but he was nabbed on the rape of another child, landing him a life sentence.

Lebese believes that he still has a long way to go in the field of investigations.

Though he still has friends serving in the police, there was a void he felt when he left the SAPS because he was no longer in that family.

“Once you join the police force, your blood automatically becomes blue. Throughout the years that I spent serving as a police officer, I experienced good and bad times. But one thing I learnt was that in the police force you don’t live alone. We became united and we would die for one another. We became a family,” he said.

Lebese is a member of a network group formed by retired and current men and women in blue to help each other. He said being part of the group felt like business as usual again.

Lebese is investigating a fraud case involving a now struck-off-the-roll attorney who allegedly swindled a road accident victim of more than R3.6m. 

His client, Simon Ndebele, 45, believes only a private investigator will help him get justice and recoup the money. 

Ndebele has been battling to get justice since he reported his case to the police about two years ago, without any feedback. He opened a case at Germiston police station at the end of 2022 and provided documents of proof, but in almost two years he hasn't received any feedback.

He doesn't know if the police are still investigating the fraud case he opened against the attorney. 

“I am now pinning my hopes on Lebese, he has helped so many people get justice,” Ndebele said.

Capt Paul Xaba, 64, is another police officer from the East Rand who is spending his retirement years assisting citizens who believe the justice system and police have failed them. 

He said he assists with cases of theft and civil matters.

He also deals with cases of lawyers not being open with their clients, such as when the RAF pays out a claim.

“They don’t get to find out how much money was paid out. I help them. Some are criminal cases where the police investigated the matter, but the matter does not go to court because of insufficient evidence.   

“I look at the matter and see what points the investigator missed and then I take it from there,” he said.

Xaba said some of the cases he has dealt with were people who were wrongly accused of fraud.

“With murder cases, I help people trying to trace the murderer because some information, I cannot get on my own without liaising with the police. They [police] will do a section 205 application for the prosecutor to sign a request to locate the cellphone at the time when the murder was committed,” he said.

Xaba started his private investigation work after leaving SAPS. He opened his PI company when he retired in September 2020. 

He is also working as a consultant for a financial services company to help trace beneficiaries of unclaimed benefits.

“When I left the force my company was already registered, but I couldn’t start working because of Covid-19 and people were sceptical about meeting strangers,” he said.