In the line of fire – when investigators become the targets
In the past 10 years, targeted killings in South Africa have increased by 108%. This staggering statistic is quoted in a recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC).
Although our country has a long and worrying history of rampant violent crime (approximately 80 murders a day as of 2023), the phenomenon of targeted killings – let’s just call them assassinations, as that’s what they really are – is escalating at a startling rate. The GI-TOC report reveals that there were 35 cases recorded in the first four months of 2024 alone.
Perhaps even more concerning is how brazen these killers are becoming. Assassins appear indiscriminate about the time and location of their hits. Targets are frequently gunned down in broad daylight, in public places, and in some cases, horrifically, in front of children.
Rand Water executive Teboho Joala, for example, was shot eight times in full view of his colleagues and pupils in the Zakariyya Park community hall while attending a back-to-school charity event on January 29 this year.
One of South Africa’s leading rappers, Kieran Forbes, popularly known as AKA, was shot dead in February on the pavement outside a busy Durban restaurant, where he’d been at a dinner party with friends. One of those friends, Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane, was also killed.
CCTV footage of the shooting was widely shared on the internet. In it, you can clearly see a man crossing the road towards the restaurant. He then starts running towards the group of friends as they exit, and shoots AKA at close range. Another man opens fire at the same time, before both killers disappear into the night.
And, in the middle of last month, Zenzele Benedict Sithole was assassinated in what newspapers are calling “a carefully orchestrated hit” at a busy intersection in Booysens while on his way home from work. The former Hawks detective had been assigned to the City of Johannesburg Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS) to investigate cases of fraud, corruption, and maladministration within the police department.
At the time of his death, he was investigating a raft of high-profile, multimillion-rand graft cases and, according to credible sources, feared his life was in danger.
One of these cases involved the use of Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) guns in cash-in-transit (CIT) heists. Allegations are that some JMPD officers had been “renting out” weapons and ammunition, including automatic assault rifles, from the armoury to criminals involved in CIT robberies to help them commit these crimes across the country.
The investigation was initiated after a senior superintendent noticed that more guns were being booked out over weekends. Although the rifles (R5s) and ammunition were kept in a safe in Randburg, criminals were allegedly given access to the safe, so they could take the firearms, use them and then return them to the safe along with the “rent” money.
I have so many concerns about this story, but one of the biggest is that it sends a chilling message from our society’s criminals that they a) are not intimidated by the rank or powerful connections of the person they target in their assassinations and b) are not obviously worried about being caught. Not surprising, when you consider that the arrest rate for these kinds of criminals is negligible at best.
When investigators find themselves in the firing line, gunned down by the very criminals (or associates of) they’re investigating, the utter disdain for those in a position of authority is palpable.
As one reader of a newspaper report on the killing so chillingly commented, “These days, you are walking dead when you’re an honest person who wants to do the right thing.”
And yet, despite this clear and very real threat, there are still many brave and committed people willing to literally put their lives at risk to expose the wrongdoings of others.
In 2023, Eskom hired Dorothy Mmushi as a consulting forensic investigations manager. Her forensic audits revealed extensive fraud and corruption within the power utility, and it wasn’t long before she started receiving death threats. One hitman even went so far as to confront her directly and admit he’d been hired to kill her.
When she reported the threat to Eskom, she was told that the matter would be investigated, but after another hitman began trailing her, she took the matter to the police.
Dorothy was offered protection in terms of the Protected Disclosures Act, but turned it down because she felt it was inadequate. She later paid for private protection, at huge financial cost to herself. Dorothy now works mainly as a forensics investigator for the private sector as she feels there is a higher level of personal security.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Mmushi is one of many qualified professionals who has left the public sector in response to threats and intimidation from state-owned enterprises. I completely understand this response – when faced with very real threats to your life, it’s natural to take the necessary steps to keep yourself and your family safe.
The regrettable side effect, however, is that if no one feels safe enough to expose corruption, then transparency and accountability, two of the most important pillars of a healthy democracy, start to crumble.
So, is there a solution?
It’s easy to say, yes, we need to be proactive and formulate a clear strategy to tackle organised crime in general and targeted killings in particular. But what does that actually look like in practice?
GI-TOC has the following suggestions:
- Identify high-risk individuals, such as auditors investigating sensitive financial transactions, and support them to reduce their level of risk.
- Formulate a multi-sectoral approach: create specialised teams within the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute these cases, and set up a dedicated and anonymised hotline so people can report threats.
- Create partnerships between law enforcement agencies and financial institutions to track criminal masterminds through tracing electronic payments made to hitmen, for example, or using call tracing technology.
- Improve collaboration between law enforcement and prosecutors.
- Launch an independent investigation into the awarding of tenders and subcontracts to criminally linked companies, and blacklist any companies connected to corrupt councillors.
- Decentralise administrative power and processes to mitigate against corruption in municipalities and state-owned enterprises.
- Understand that targeted killings are not an isolated phenomenon – we need more effective strategies to dismantle criminal networks and improve law enforcement efforts.
- Target organised crime more broadly by recognising how it intersects with the phenomenon of assassination. Strategies that work to address organised crime should also help to reduce targeted killings.
Can these suggestions make a real difference? We have to try. We owe it to the good and honest people of our country to protect and support them in their efforts to root out corruption, expose the criminals, and make South Africa a safer place for us all.