Madlanga Commission | IPID official flags alleged targeted extrajudicial killings in KZN

KwaZulu-Natal Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Investigations Deputy Director, Len John, revealed on Wednesday that SAPS task team members have, in some cases, allegedly killed civilians and then unlawfully linked them to cash-in-transit heists to close dockets related to those crimes.

Testifying before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, John alleged that unsuspecting civillians, mostly in informal settlements, were targeted in operations that were often carried out prematurely and without sufficient grounds.

John said task team members allegedly received intelligence from Crime Intelligence before carrying out operations, sometimes within hours of receiving the information.

He contrasted this with cash-in-transit robbers, who he said are typically highly trained and heavily armed with high-calibre firearms, while task teams allegedly targeted people who appeared unarmed and defenceless.

John further testified that after suspects were allegedly killed by police, officers often claimed they had acted in self-defence.

He said the related cash-in-transit robbery dockets were then closed without further investigation because the alleged suspects were deceased.

John said IPID has recorded at least 77 cases of alleged extrajudicial killings involving SAPS task team members, linked to cash-in-transit heists, drug-related crimes and taxi-related cases.

He also cited the case of slain alleged drug lord and tow-truck operator Bevin Loftus, saying Loftus’s father had obtained an interdict specifically to prevent his son’s killing a day before he was gunned down on 1 April 2023.

The commission heard that in April 2023, SAPS task team members opened fire on Loftus and four other men, claiming they had acted in self-defence against the victims they suspected of being involved in drug dealing and hitmen activities.

John said the team identified Loftus as their main target, alleging he was linked to at least six criminal cases, including theft, attempted murder and murder.

However, John testified that there was little evidence linking the deceased to the crimes alleged by the task team.

He instead alleged that evidence suggested Hawks high-profile investigator Lieutenant-Colonel, Deena Govender, who headed the task team, had been commissioned by one of Loftus’s rivals.

John said IPID received intelligence that Govender and his task team were allegedly planning to kill Loftus days before the shooting and that Govender had allegedly received kickbacks for the hit.

He said IPID received the intelligence from counter-intelligence and went to Loftus’s home to warn him to go into hiding.

Instead, investigators found Loftus’s father, Gregory, who John said told them police officials had visited the home at least three times looking for Bevin and had allegedly threatened to kill him.

“The police has visited Greg Loftus’s house more than three times. Constantly. They went there looking for Bevin Loftus. Constantly they were looking for him. In one visit to the house, they indicated to the father that they are are not there to arrest Bevin, but rather that they are there to kill him. They even told the father that he must prepare his funeral cover because they are going to kill him,” said John.

John also raised questions about Govender’s finances, saying that despite earning less than R26 000 a month from SAPS, he bought a property worth R2.35 million after Loftus’s alleged assassination.

He told the Commission that bank statements belonging to Govender and his wife, who is also a SAPS employee, reflected cash deposits totalling approximately R2.4 million between 22 August 2022 and 18 December 2023.

John also presented the commission with automatic vehicle location (AVL) records showing that Govender’s official BMW was parked about 30 metres from the home of tow-truck and panel-beating businessman, Clive Naicker, on 16 August 2022.

Naicker is alleged to have been behind the plot to kill Loftus.

Written by: Odirile Rabalao