Suspended police commissioner tells inquiry he is related to murder accused

Mbangwa Nkhwashu disclosed family ties to Katiso Molefe at a commission examining allegations of interference in a murder investigation.

Suspended Sedibeng South African Police Service District Commissioner Mbangwa Nkhwashu told the Madlanga Commission that he is related to murder-accused Katiso 'KT' Molefe through marriage.¹ Nkhwashu has been implicated in allegations that he attempted to obtain the murder docket in the case of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart.¹

Nkhwashu said he met Molefe through his partner, Fundiswa Nyandule, who was previously married to his wife's late younger brother.¹ The meeting occurred at a restaurant in Alberton at the end of June 2024, he said.¹ During the encounter, Molefe mentioned that he was involved in various business interests, including the security sector, according to Nkhwashu's testimony.¹

Evidence presented at the commission suggests that Nkhwashu visited Molefe while he was in prison for Swart's murder, allegedly after visiting hours and in a vehicle without registration plates.¹ Swart died after being shot 23 times in his vehicle in what is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity.² He worked for a company that had raised concerns about suspected fraud and corruption linked to a Transnet tender contract.²

Nkhwashu is accused of attempting to seize the Swart murder docket by threatening investigators, only to later retract the demand after becoming a suspect himself.² In his testimony, Nkhwashu said he never demanded the docket for any personal interest or improper purpose but asked for it, among others including Molefe's case, on the instructions of the provincial commissioner.²

Nkhwashu said if he had wanted to tamper with the case, he would not have moved the docket out of his district.² He told the commission that he was later contacted by Witness B, who said she had found out that he was looking for the docket, which he did not deny.² Witness B told him that she could not hand it over, as it had been taken by the director of public prosecutions, so he asked for the director's email details, he said.²