Suspended SAPS Sedibeng District Commissioner, Brigadier Abraham Nkhwashu, denies allegations regarding his interference in the bail proceedings of Warrant Officer Michael Tau.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
Suspended SAPS Sedibeng District Commissioner, Brigadier Abraham Nkhwashu, has flatly denied allegations that he interfered in the bail application proceedings of Joburg Central Police Warrant Officer Michael Tau, who was arrested for the murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart in April 2024.
According to previous testimonies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, the hit on Swart was carried out by mistake. The hit was allegedly intended for a whistle-blower who had evidence of Transnet tender corruption involving overpricing, with businessman Katiso “KT” Molefe implicated.
Testifying before the commission on Wednesday, Nkhwashu referred to Molefe as his brother-in-law, who had asked him to find out if the State would oppose Tau's bail application. Molefe wanted to pay for Tau's bail because they were friends.
According to Nkhwashu, he abruptly stopped his conversation with Molefe, telling him that he does not discuss his police cases with civilians, not even his wife.
Earlier on, Nkhwashu told the commission that his relationship with Molefe exists because Molefe is married to the wife of Nkhwashu's estranged wife's late brother, Sazi.
He also justified his prison visits to Molefe to deliver clothes and food after Molefe's arrest on December 6, 2024, during a takedown operation by the Political Killings Task Team at his Johannesburg home.
Nkhwashu had gone to Groenpunt Prison, where Molefe was incarcerated for his alleged involvement in Swart's murder.
The commission presented Nkhwashu with Sergeant Lebogang Tshukudu's testimony, in which Tshukudu testified that Nkhwashu asked him to enquire from Witness B, the investigating officer in Swart's murder case, whether the State would oppose bail.
Evidence leader Advocate Thabang Pooe pointed out that Nkhwashu probably discussed far more with Molefe than he cared to tell the commission.
"It is more likely that you asked Tshukudu to get information about the bail proceedings from Witness B and that it would make sense for him to do it because the two of them are in the same unit," she said.
Nkhwashu responded: "Like I said earlier, we were in a drinking space enjoying ourselves. I don't deny that I could have said more, but I really don't remember, and I don't think of me having to lose it to that extent."
Nkhwashu’s reference to the drinking space concerned a stokvel or social gathering he attended with his SAPS colleagues, where Tau's and Molefe's names arose in conversations.
"During the stokvel, Tshukudu and others mentioned that they had come to my office to escort suspects (who included Sergeant Michael Tau). I recalled my earlier conversation with Katiso in which he had asked about bail for an unnamed friend," he told the commission.
Co-commissioner Advocate Sesi Baloyi SC referenced Tshukudu's statement, saying Tshukudu did not say Nkhwashu instructed him, but instead informed him that Molefe knew the arrested person and wanted to know if the State would oppose bail.
Tshukudu told the commission that he informed Nkhwashu that, upon seeing Witness B, he would ask if the State would oppose bail.
Pooe added that Tshukudu mentioned reporting back to Nkhwashu that the State was opposing bail.
"Do you recall Sergeant Tshukudu ever coming to you to tell you this?" she asked.
Nkhwashu replied: "No. I don't remember that it happened."
He was also asked to react to Tshukudu's statement that Nkhwashu told him that Molefe had informed him that Tau was granted bail. Nkhwashu disputed telling Tshukudu that Molefe had said that.
The commission heard from Tshukudu that he told Nkhwashu to thank Witness B on behalf of the family after Tau was granted bail.
Pooe mentioned that Witness B was asked why she thought a message of gratitude would come from Nkhwashu when it was clear bail would be opposed.
The witness told the commission that she perceived the gratitude as a "thinly-veiled threat and just a message of saying 'we are watching you'".
Nkhwashu said: "I wouldn't do that. I did not send Tshukudu to send a message of thank you."
He, however, said he understood that if that message were to be sent it would come across as a threat.
Witness B, a detective at the Gauteng Organised Crime Unit, testified last October that Nkhwashu told her Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Tommy Mthombeni wanted all dockets with J50 warrants of arrest, including the Swart murder case docket.
The dockets were to be submitted to the Deputy Provincial Commissioner of Detective Services, Major General Mbuso Khumalo, to oversee those investigations as directed by the Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za