JOHANNESBURG, 3 November 2025– The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) were instructed to leave an operation in the North West province and respond to an incident at the Sandton residence of Katiso “KT” Molefe, the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry has been told.
Warrant Officer Sabelo Nkosi, a member of the Hawks’ Tactical Operations Management Section, gave evidence on Monday morning that he had been preparing for deployment to a major operation in the North West on 6 December 2024. Before he could depart, he said he received a call from his superior, Lesiba Mokeona, instructing him instead to travel to a Sandton address. His task: to verify claims that individuals were impersonating police officers.
Nkosi told the commission the diversion left him feeling frustrated. “To me, that area where the address is, we do have a local police station, and if it was such an urgency … I don’t think there is an area or suburb where a police station is more than 20 kilometres away,” he said. The Sandton address was roughly 60 kilometres from where he was operating.
Upon arrival at Molefe’s home, Nkosi said he found that the operation was legitimate. He described his assignment as an “insignificant verification”.
The Madlanga Commission, which is investigating alleged corruption and interference in the justice and law-enforcement sectors, is now turning its focus to the arrest of Molefe and the suspected role of Hawks members in the process. According to testimony by Captain Maxwell Wanda of the Political Killings Task Team, a large group of Hawks officers unexpectedly arrived at the scene of Molefe’s arrest in December 2024 and behaved in ways he characterised as aggressive and intrusive.
The evidence shows that after initial concerns about possible imposters, Hawks officers were dispatched to “verify” the Sandton operation, but questions remain about the nature, scale and legitimacy of their involvement. The commission heard that no formal inquiry number was registered in relation to the Hawks’ deployment, raising doubts about whether standard procedures for an “emergency” operation were followed.
In challenging testimony, the Hawks have denied interference. Brigadier Mokeona told the commission that his unit was simply responding to a call about a suspected bogus raid, and that once the operation at Molefe’s residence was confirmed as legitimate, the Hawks withdrew.
The divergence of Hawks resources from a planned North West operation to Sandton has raised broader concerns about operational priorities, governance and transparency within the law-enforcement cluster. The commission must now determine whether standard protocols were circumvented and whether the Hawks’ intervention constituted proper oversight or improper interference.
As the inquiry continues, the alleged diversion and its implications for the arrest of Molefe will remain under scrutiny.
