Maj. Gen. Feroz Khan and Maj. Gen. Ebrahim Kadwa during their court appearance. (Photo: @CrimeWatch_RSA)
Maj. Gen. Feroz Khan’s arrest over the weekend was not much of a surprise. Khan, currently second in command of the police’s crime intelligence unit, has long been under suspicion for his integrity.
Khan’s name has also been mentioned at the parliamentary ad hoc committee.
Maj. Gen. The arrest of Ebrahim Kadwa, provincial head of the Hawks in Gauteng, did somewhat unnerve some in police circles.
“I was very surprised when I heard about Kadwa,” admits Dr. Johan Burger, an expert in policing and former researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
“I know him quite well. He was first with organized crime at the Falcons’ head office. I got to know him there. The staff there have always had the highest regard for him,” says Burger.
On Monday morning, Kadwa appeared together with Khan and Tariq Downes, a businessman from KwaZulu-Natal, in the magistrate’s court in Kempton Park on charges of breaching the Precious Metals Act and thwarting or obstructing the legal process.
The charges stem from an incident on 5 May 2021 when Downes was allegedly caught in possession of 75.9 grams of unwrought gold, worth approximately R62 836, at OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park.
At the time, during interrogation, Downes claimed that the metal was a copper bar and allegedly said that he was acting as a secret agent.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), investigations have now revealed that there was no such authorized covert operation with precious metals.
The state now claims Khan and Kadwa instructed officers at the time to release Downes, despite there being no supporting documents for such an operation.
Burger suspects this was an isolated case; at least as far as Kadwa is concerned.
“I cannot imagine that Kadwa is involved in organized crime. Anyone would struggle to convince me of that.”
Burger tells Maroela Media on Monday that during his time as a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, he at one stage invited Kadwa to act as a guest speaker at a seminar. “Everyone was impressed with him,” he remembers.
Burger and Kadwa kept in touch after the seminar.
“For example, I called him and congratulated him when he was appointed head of the Hawks in Gauteng. This guy has a very good reputation.
“To hear now that somehow he was guilty of deliberately obstructing justice … I can’t believe it.”
Burger concedes that South Africans must be tight-fisted by then. “I don’t know where we are going now, but more than a dozen generals have already been suspended or arrested.”
Several senior police officers have been implicated since the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry was set up – from Gen. Dumisani Khumalo, commissioner of the police’s crime intelligence unit, to Gen. Fannie Masemola, suspended national commissioner.
However, Burger believes that South Africans should be careful not to assume that each of these generals is guilty.
He says that if Kadwa was involved and evidence before the court supports it, “then one has to accept it from the nature of the case”.
However, Citizen is not yet convinced that every general has committed offenses for which they can be held criminally liable.
“There are people there who I know very, very well and swear high and low they did nothing wrong. But they were arrested as a collective.
“The dilemma is that we are now overwhelmed with policemen who are named, suspended and arrested. This while in many of the cases, especially as far as the public is concerned, little evidence has been presented.”
However, Burger does not say that the police’s senior management is not in deep trouble.
“The situation is already serious enough. I do not want to detract from it. The public’s trust in the police is on the ground. People no longer have confidence in the police. Junior police members no longer have confidence in their seniors.”
Burger thinks it is important that the law takes its course and that the public is informed throughout as the respective cases of the generals unfold.
‘Cleaning Process’
Ian Cameron, a DA MP and chairman of the parliamentary committee on police, told Maroela Media on Monday that he has been putting pressure on Khan to be investigated for a long time – so much so that Khan’s lawyers at one stage threatened him with legal action.
Cameron also admits that he himself has not had any problems with Kadwa in the past. “So I can’t really comment as far as he is concerned.”
Cameron does think it is worrying that two more senior officers have been arrested. “But these are all signs of a cleansing process. And hopefully we are cleaning up the real ones (the guilty ones).”
He points out that the case against Fannie Nkosi also goes back as far as 2021.
“So it’s been many years now that no action has been taken and now suddenly, thank goodness, the new acting commissioner has taken action.”
Cameron thinks gen. Puleng Dimpane, the new acting police commissioner, is clearly acting with urgency.
“It’s good for me that these things are happening, because we can’t keep struggling. We can’t, for example, fight for a bigger police budget, but we have bad apples in the senior management.
“So, I’m excited about the fact that something is starting to happen so we can start rebuilding.”