By: By Bianca “BB” Binase
A 40-year-old woman who is a relative of murder accused Katiso Molefe has revealed how associates of KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi kidnapped her and three small children from a restaurant in Soweto, tortured and brutally assaulted her for two days in an attempt to extract information about Molefe and another relative they believe is Molefe’s accomplice in multiple crimes.
Molefe is charged with his three alleged hitmen, Michael Pule Tau, 55, Musa Kekana, 35, and Tiego Floyd Mabusela, 47. They are charged with the murders of DJ Sumbody and his two bodyguards, Sibusiso Mokoena and Sandile Myeza. Molefe and his co-accused have also been charged with the murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart who was shot and killed outside his workplace in Vereeniging on April 17 2024.
It is not the first time officers associated with Mkhwanazi have been accused of unlawful conduct. Last month there were reports of how Mkhwanazi’s associates allegedly kidnapped a fellow cop to retrieve evidence in the DJ Sumbody murder case. Captain Itumeleng Makgotloe, a senior SAPS ballistics expert was allegedly held hostage in January by rogue Special Task Force operators to obtain crucial evidence at the police’s Silverton forensics laboratory. The alleged incident, detailed in a sworn statement for the Independent Police Investigating Directorate (IPID) investigation, is set to be examined at the hearings in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, starting soon.
Now, a Soweto woman, Lebo Molefe, who is Katiso Molefe’s late sister, exclusively told Africa News Global how on 16 December 2024, rogue Special Task Force operators associated with Mkhwanazi kidnapped her from a restaurant at Maponya Mall, Soweto where she was having lunch with her three nieces aged eight, 14 and 15.
“While we were having lunch around 3pm. I received a call from a man who identified himself as police officer Tshepo Mashego. He requested to have a ten-minute meeting and said he would come and meet me wherever I was. I agreed and told him that I was with kids. He said he didn’t mind meeting me in the presence of the kids. I then gave him the name of the restaurant where we were and within minutes, he was there accompanied by two other men in private clothes who he introduced as police officers.”
Lebo said the officers were then joined five more police also in private clothes. “They called me outside where he demanded to have a look at my phone, I gave it to them and after going through my phone, the officer who identified himself as Tshepo Mashego asked me the whereabouts of my younger brother Lucky Molefe. I told them I did not know where he was. They then became hostile and threatened me that if I didn’t tell them where Lucky was, hell was going to break loose. When I insisted that I was being honest, they grabbed me and took me and the three kids to their car and told us that they were taking us to Moroka Police Station. However instead of driving to Moroka Police Station, they took the highway and when I asked where they were taking us, they ordered me to keep quiet.”
“They continued driving until we reached Muldersdrift Police Station in the West Rand.. At this stage, the children were extremely traumatised and crying hysterically but the officers didn’t care and one officer even slapped my fifteen-year-old niece in the face. At Muldersdrift police station, the officers took me and the kids to a room and kept telling me that I was in serious trouble unless I told them the truth. I asked the officers for permission to call a lawyer; however my request was turned down. They then took the kids to another room and continued asking me about Lucky’s whereabouts. When I insisted that I didn’t know where Lucky was, the officers became aggressive and took a blanket from a drawer, spread it on the floor and ordered me to lie on it.”
Lebo said the officers then wrapped her with this blanket and strangled her. “As I was screaming, they took out a plastic bag out of a drawer and put it over my head, suffocating me. This torture continued until late in the evening when one of the officers called my brother Mpho Molefe and told him that he must meet them at Moroka police station in Soweto where he would hand over the kids and my car to him. They then drove the kids to Moroka police station where I later learned they handed over the kids and my car to my brother Mpho Molefe.”
“While my torture and interrogation at Muldersdridt Police Station continued, somebody at the police station, I guess it was a police officer heard my loud screams and asked the officers who were torturing me to stop. They then stopped but continued asking me about Lucky’s whereabouts. I then said to them he might be at my grandmother’s house in Katlehong. The time was about 10.30pm when the officers said to me I should take them to my grandmother’s house in Katlehong. I was then told to get into a car with two officers who identified themselves as Mbele and Sithole. We were followed by two more vehicles, a Toyota SUV with four males and a BMW X3 with two males.”
“We drove to my grandmother’s house in Katlehong where we found my grandmother, Mary Moloi, my aunt Puleng Moloi and my cousin Itumeleng Moloi (Fana) and his girlfriend and my other cousin Phomolo Moloi. I was told to go back to the car and five minutes later, I saw police coming back to the car with Fana who had his hands tied behind his back. We were then taken to Thokoza Police Station where I remained in the car while some officers took Fana into the police station. Police returned to the car and another officer aggressively pulled me out of the car and took me to another car. I fell down before entering the car and while I was on the ground, the officer took out a taser and used it all over my body.”
Lebo added that two other officers then spread her legs while the one with the taser placed it on her private parts. “The pain was so unbearable and I was kicking and screaming. The officers continued assaulting me, hitting me with fists until I lost one tooth while the one with a taser continued using the devise all over my body. The beating and torture continued for a long time. I had more than sixty burn marks and multiple bruises.”
Lebo said they were in Thokoza till the early hours of the morning when the officers said they were giving her the last chance to tell them where Lucky was. “They told me if I did not tell them the truth, they were going to kill me. One of the officers went as far as gloating that killing is their daily business and that they kill and get away with it.” Lebo said out of desperation and fear she told the officers that Lucky might be in Durban. She said she also asked the officers to contact Katiso’s Molefe’s baby mama, Fundiswa who stays in Fourways.
“We then drove to Fundiswa’s house in Fourways. On our way, police were driving at a very high speed and recklessly on the N3 while it was drizzling. Just before we reached Malboro Drive, the driver lost control and the car spun several times. I bumped my head on the roof of the car several times while my hands were still cuffed behind my back. The car then hit the barrier on the side of the road before it came to a stop. Police then took me out of the car and cut off the plastic straps they had tied my hands with and put me in another car that officers Sithole and Mbele were travelling in.”
“While we were waiting for an ambulance to arrive, I asked the officers to take me to the nearest hospital as I had severe pains all over my body and was feeling dizzy. However they refused and said they could only do this if I have lost a leg or an arm. We then drove to Fundiswa’s house in Fourways and we arrived there at about 5 am. Fundiswa said to the officers Lucky might be in Standerton in Mpumalanga at one of our relatives. They then took Fundiswa to another car and we then drove to Standerton. When we arrived at my late great-grandmother’s house in Standerton around 8am, the police opened the gate forcefully with some tool, entered the property, broke the windows and the doors before entering the house. I was still in the car and watching in shock while all this was going on.”
“I do not know what happened in the house but officers came back and told me there was no one inside the house. There was a car parked inside the yard. The officers wrote down its numberplates and found that the car was registered in my other uncle’s name, Ronnie Moloi, who also lives in Standerton. They then drove with us to his place but did not find him at his house. We then drove back to Johannesburg and we stopped at Total Garage on the N3, where all officers had a meeting for over an hour while I was sitting in the car.”
Lebo said after their meeting, police officers came back to the car and they drove back with her and Fundiswa to Sakhile Police Station in Standerton. “On our arrival at the police station, they went out with Fundiswa and I was told they were going to take her statement. We then drove to Johannesburg and we arrived at my house in Mapetla Soweto at about 7.30 pm. I asked the officers to give me back my phone but they refused and said they will give it back to me the next day. However they never brought back my phone to this day.”
Lebo said the following day (18 December) she I went to Kliptown Police Station to go and open a case against the officers who kidnapped her. She said a statement was obtained from her, and two days later she received an SMS on her aunt’s phone notifying her that the case has been transferred a relevant police department for further investigation. “A week after this, officers Mbele and Sithole came to my house in Soweto but did not find me at home. “They then went to my boyfriend’s house in Protea North, Soweto in two SUVs with several other police officers. They jumped the walls and knocked loudly on the door. I was alone at my boyfriends home when the cops arrived and I refused to open the door. The officers then left, thinking there was no one in the house. The next day, they came back and found him home. They told him they were looking for me. He told me he did not know where I was and they left.”
Lebo said in May this year, she received a call from someone who identified herself as police officer Maphosho from the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) who requested to have a meeting with her. “We then arranged for a meeting which took place at my house in Mapetla. Officer Maphosho from IPID was accompanied by another officer. They took my statement and a doctor’s report. They told me they received a report about the accident that occurred while I was being driven by the police on N3. The same officers came back to me after two weeks and told me they were almost done with their investigation. I haven’t heard from them since.”
“What I went through is the worst thing I’ve ever gone through in my life. I did not believe that any human being could be such callous towards another human being, especially a woman and children. What I went through with my three small nieces is the worst thing any human being can go through. I will never trust any police officer as a result of the cruelty they treated me and my nieces with. I’m also very disappointed with the lack of progress in IPID’s investigation into this matter. I’m now left with no option but to take legal action’’, Lebo concluded.
Africa News Global contacted IPID’s officer Maphosho but she did not answer her phone.
Questions have been sent to IPID and their response will be published once it is received.
