IPID investigator implicates SAPS members in potential murder cover-up

INDEPENDENT Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) senior investigator Nomsa Masuku believes that concluding the investigation into the death of Emmanuel Mbense was delayed by the SAPS’ failure to report the matter to the police watchdog. 

Masuku told the Madlanga commission on Wednesday that she first got involved in the case after a colleague's call from SAPS Parktown, relaying a message that the deceased family came to complain that their son, a Brakpan man whose body was found dumped in a dam with bloody injuries in April 2022, was found dead after police visited his home.

Masuku said she arranged to meet with the family to conduct a preliminary investigation into the circumstances leading to 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 Thursday.

Cape Times