Madlanga zooms in on botched R300m drug bust

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]who recall of course the context in which warrant officer Steve Pakula was testifying the crime scene at the Scanyia officers in Eritton to attend to a consignment that had been intercepted facing questions about why he was on the scene and how he appears to have misled his superiors about what was really happening in this operation what the actual nature of the operation was so testimony there from him about that let's get check in now with our senior political reporter Xandel who's at the Madlanga commission's Yandanda good afternoon to you again the most astonishing story emerging.

[00:00:38]>> Absolutely Stephen and you know initially in the morning it sounded as though someone like Pakula is a victim of some sort of just having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. You'll recall that all of this is a continuation of what we've heard about that botched drug buster where drugs had come in from the Durban harbor were initially kept at yellow jersey logistics and it's there where Mahane a man known to have been an informant Dumeu as well as traffic police chief Samuel Mashaba arrived and then moved the drugs after the logistics company did not want to open the container. ina without the presence of the owner. That's when the drugs were moved out of the Echoleni region into Johannesburg where they were taken to the Scania offices in Eritton.

[00:01:34]And it's there where um Mahane is said to have uh you recall warrant officer Marumo Makane who testified yesterday.

[00:01:42]He's said to have called someone like warrant officer Pakula to actually bring some backup to the scene. And this is what he did. He dared to call the K9 units which coincidentally his brother Sergeant Pakula also works in. He also did eventually call the forensic services lab as well as the local criminal record center which are all units that must be called to the scene of a drug bust. But there were some there was some interesting testimony about what happened when major general and crime intelligence top official major general fose Khan arrived to the scene. It seems that uh Khan actually took over the scene and it's in line with what Makane told the commissioners.

[00:02:28]But what became interesting Stephen was how he claims Khan reached out to him uh after they were arrested. He was arrested. Pakula that is uh on that particular day of the 9th of July and there was subsequent disciplinary processes that were undertaken and Pakula claims Khan reached out to him because he sympathized with his cause and that he had been uh you know caught up in a a situation and that he in this conversation when they met in person because uh Khan tried to reach out to him before and he initially refused to meeting. But when he did im eventually meet with Khan, Khan actually asked him what he'd heard about who the owner of the drugs was. And he says he told Khan that he'd been told people are saying that the drugs belonged to him.

[00:03:23]Interesting to also note Stephen before I let you and the viewer listen into that particular aspect is how Khan had also apparently asked for the meeting to also include the hawks head Ibrahim Kadwa.

[00:03:40]people wanted to take over the crime scene and the only way for them to take control of that crime scene was to get us arrested or intimidate us in that way cuz uh there are there are a lot of things that I can point out that that are questionable. If they wanted to honestly, if they were intending on investigating this case, I believe they could have done it better with the experience and resources that they have. I I I refer to DPCI.

[00:04:22]>> Maybe just so that we don't forget, you say there are a lot of questionable things that happen. Maybe just list them.

[00:04:30]>> Okay.

[00:04:31]uh one commissioners it was easier for them to go fetch the CCTV footage in order to assist them with their investigations.

[00:04:46]the the dog unit that was supposed to be used. They they could have they could they could have used it to assist them with the investigation if they were intending on searching and and also the release of the driver. Most most importantly the driver. Uh those are the the three that I can at the moment point at. Major General Khan asked me who the drugs belong to and I told him that people say they belong to him and he laughed. He told me that he could see that I was doing an honest job and I requested if he could submit a statement as there was a disciplinary hearing against me for the same case. He promised he would draft it and give it to me before my hearing which was on the on on the on Friday the 18th of September 2021.

[00:05:39]We parted and I promised I will avail the informer to him for an interview. He never submitted his statement as per his promise.

[00:05:48]>> And so Steven as now he has completed his statement. It was time for crossexamination. And it's there where the commissioners began poking holes into some of what he had previously told the commissioners. This also includes how he claims that when he arrived at the scene uh it had been well managed as per the national instruction that gets given to you or as that needs to be followed. I beg your pardon about how to manage crime scene management. It was found that he was not truthful about that because he could not have known what happened before he arrived. He arrived at the point at which the black sealed bags had been offloaded from the container without gloves contaminated and loaded onto the back of warrant officer Marumo Mahan Baky. The other aspect was the fact that in his witness statement and before this commission this particular officer from the national investigating unit that's known as NU uh warrant officer Bakula says um that he uh was assisting with taking statements but also continues to claim that Mahane is a crime intelligence officer which is also another untruth that the commissioners have actually uh found and led as evidence before the commission. And uh this is important because to the extent that Mahane is not a crime intelligence officer, to the extent that Pakula does not have the requisite experience when it comes to drug busts of this magnitude, he has told he told his superior when Mahane called him that he is going to assist crime intelligence with a drug operation. And it's there where Commissioner Kumalo had questions about whether or not Pakula was honest with his superior.

[00:07:46]>> If you had said to your superior, a police officer from Zonizo police station is chasing drugs from Euri to Johannesburg and it's just him and a traffic official.

[00:08:05]The two of them only have called me to join them. I doubt that your superior would have said yes go and join them because you are at a level of a warrant officer. The only reason your superior allowed you to go there is because you told him that crime intelligence I mean he's specific in both his affidavits. He says you told him that crime intelligence asked for your assistance and it was on that basis that he gave you the go-ahad.

[00:08:34]Hence I say you misled your superior and it was on the basis of the information you gave him which was misleading that he allowed you to participate.

[00:08:45]>> No >> in this past.

[00:08:46]>> No I would I would disagree with commissioner.

[00:08:48]>> Is your superior lying when he says you told him that crime intelligence asked for your assistance?

[00:08:53]>> No I told him that.

[00:08:54]>> You told him that and that is not true.

[00:08:56]Crime intelligence did not ask for your assistance.

[00:09:01]And so cross-examination of warrant officer Steve Pakula continues after the lunch break. Stephen, >> senior political reporter Zen Noble, thank you very much indeed. More from her and the team there in after 2:00.