Suspended Hawks KwaZulu-Natal head Major General Lesetja Senona is set to reappear before the Madlanga Commission on Friday.
Image: Oupa Mokoena /Independent Newspapers
Suspended Hawks KwaZulu-Natal head Major General Lesetja Senona will return to the Madlanga Commission on Friday to give oral testimony after being granted additional time to file his witness statement.
Senona was initially due to appear on Monday but requested more time to prepare.
Commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ruled that his written statement must be submitted by midnight on Tuesday.
His appearance is set for 9.30 am on Friday, June 5, 2026.”
Senona has been implicated in the alleged theft of 541kg of cocaine from a Hawks storage facility in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, in 2021.
The drugs, valued at about R200m, reportedly disappeared under irregular circumstances linked to the handling and custody of seized exhibits.
Earlier in May, Major General Hendrick Flynn of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) said Senona should have been subjected to a polygraph test, given his involvement in the matter.
Flynn said Senona was not a distant supervisory figure, but had been directly involved in aspects of the operation, including visiting the Port Shepstone office and taking control of keys.
Flynn told the commission that cocaine seized at a Durban depot was booked into Isipingo police station on June 22 2021, but was booked out the same day by Warrant Officer Mpangase.
At the instruction of Brigadier Campbell Nyuswa, who had consulted Senona, the drugs were then taken to the Port Shepstone DPCI facility.
He said the chain of custody was compromised, with irregular entries in the SAP 13 register and inconsistencies in documentation.
In one instance, exhibits were recorded as received at Port Shepstone police station, despite no clear record of who accepted them, while a different officer signed the receipt without providing a name or Persal number.
Flynn also testified that an entry suggesting the exhibits had been taken for analysis was false, as the drugs were never sent for forensic examination at the time.
He told the commission the sequence of events appeared to have been “by design”, pointing to procedural failures at the original crime scene, including the absence of the Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) and improper handling of evidence.
According to Flynn, the cocaine - originating from the Port of Santos in Brazil - should have been properly sealed, photographed and bagged at the scene. Instead, it was transported in a manner that left it vulnerable and compromised the chain of custody.
He further questioned how 541kg of cocaine could have been received at the Port Shepstone DPCI office without a corresponding receipt document, although he said witness statements indicated delivery had taken place.
The inquiry also heard evidence from the deputy national commissioner for policing Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili indicating that there had been seven break-ins at the same DPCI facility prior to a November 2021 incident in which the cocaine was stolen.
Flynn said the drugs were taken between 6 and 8 November 2021 after intruders used a grinder to breach the strong room at the Port Shepstone office.
At the time, the alarm system was not functioning properly and no armed response service was in place because a security contract had expired in March 2020.
He said the lack of security oversight contributed to the theft but emphasised that stronger safeguards could have prevented access to the exhibits.
“You need additional layers of security measures to make it difficult or impossible to breach the premises,” Flynn said.
The commission resumed its public hearings on Monday, after it has been on recess for two weeks preparing its second interim report.
President Cyril Ramaphosa received the commission’s second interim report last week on Friday, May 29, 2026 and is studying its findings while the inquiry continues its public hearings.
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
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