IPID investigator exposes SAPS potential cover-up in Mbense murder investigation

In a significant turn at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, Nomsa Masuku, a senior investigator at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), has levelled serious allegations against South African Police Service (SAPS) officers for their failure to properly report the murder of Emmanuel Mbense to the police watchdog.

The Brakpan man's body was was found in a dam in April 2022, bearing signs of bloody injuries — a desperate call to action that, according to Masuku, went unheeded by law enforcement officials.

Masuku's involvement in the Mbense case began with a distressing phone call from a colleague within SAPS Parktown, indicating that Mbense's family had reported concerns about their son’s whereabouts following a police visit to their home. Alarmed by the circumstances, she arranged an immediate meeting with the family to start a preliminary investigation into what had unfolded before Mbense's death.

Mbense was killed on April 15, 2022. His body was discovered the following day in Duduza Dam in Nigel, Gauteng.

Masuku testified that she went to Duduza police station to obtain the case docket that was initially registered as an inquest after learning that Mbense's body was found in a dam near the township.

The docket, she said, contained a witness statement that stated that police visited Mbense's house before he disappeared.

She told the commission that she was puzzled by the police's action for not reporting the case to Ipid despite finding Mbense's driver's licence and ID card in his pocket, which led them to his residence.

Masuku presented witness testimony to the commission, showing that a tenant told the SAPS that police visited Mbense's house on the night he disappeared, and the next day, the house was in disarray.

She said the SAPS incorrectly registered Mbense's case as an inquest, despite his body showing signs of injury and blood when discovered.

"Because they can see that this person was killed, they must register the docket as murder so that it can be investigated to establish what actually transpired to this person. It was for the SAPS to report that matter to Ipid," Masuku said.

She said that if the SAPS had alerted Ipid to attend the scene, the investigation would not have taken five years to conclude.

"To reclassify the case as a murder case, I visited Heidelberg pathology services. That was during May 2022 to obtain the post-mortem examination report that was going to reflect the cause of death," she said.

She said the reason was to confirm first if the deceased did not die of natural causes.

The report, she said, confirmed that the deceased's cause of death was a head injury due to blunt force trauma, necessitating the reclassification of the docket from inquest to murder case.

On May 2, 2022, Masuku received a call from Mbense's mother, who informed her that a white man who identified himself as Alexander Frits from the Hawks came to see her.

Frits allegedly told Mbense's mother that he was investigating a robbery involving a truck.

Masuku said the evidence was collected from the mother by Frits, who told Mbense's mother that her son's truck was under investigation.

According to Masuku, Frits, who is a police reservist, misrepresented his identity by claiming to be from the Hawks.

"He was wearing a cap written ‘Hawks’," she said.

Masuku's testimony is expected to resume today.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

SUNDAY TRIBUNE