BENT COP: Cape Town cop convicted of murder, supplying intelligence to the 28s Mobsters gang

A Western Cape High Court judgment has raised disturbing questions about police infiltration, collusion and the potential use of law-enforcement information to strengthen criminal networks.

The court found that former South African Police Service (SAPS) constable Alfonso Cloete (35) abused his position to gather strategic information and pass it on to alleged Mobsters gang boss Elcardo Adams. The Mobsters have ties to the 28s gang and are also called the 28s Mobsters.

Both men were convicted for their role in the December 2018 murder of Chevonne de Wet, who was shot dead while sitting in a vehicle with her three-year-old child, who survived unharmed. Adams was also convicted of three other murders.

The four murders in the indictment included: Bradwyn Craig Adams, killed in Happy Valley, Blackheath, on 28 July 2017; Hampshire “Hempies” Brown, a Kleinvlei businessman and alleged member of rival gang, the Horribles, killed on 16 February 2018; Gilliano Williams, killed on 28 October 2018.

De Wet, who was murdered on 21 December 2018, was Brown’s goddaughter.

Oath of office ‘betrayed’

On 31 July 2026, Judge Deidre Kusevitsky convicted Elcardo Adams on all counts. In her judgment, Kusevitsky condemned Cloete’s betrayal of the public trust. The ruling has not been previously reported.

“Cloete was a police officer who associated himself with this criminal organisation. That he betrayed his oath of office and duty to the public that he was meant to uphold, is a disgrace,” she said.

Sentencing proceedings began in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday, 28 October, marking a new phase in the case and focusing attention on the role of a police insider in supplying sensitive information to a gang leader.

In April 2022, confessed hitman Alfredo Blake became a key witness against the Mobsters gang, admitting to three murders and other offences. He received a cumulative 170-year sentence, with concurrent sentences resulting in an effective 40 years’ imprisonment.

The case runs parallel to another major Western Cape High Court matter involving alleged underworld activity: the case against Ralph Stanfield, his wife Nicole Johnson and 12 co-accused, who face charges including murder, attempted murder, firearms offences and robbery.

The proceedings provide a broader context for examining organised crime issues in Cape Town, although the cases are separate and the accused in the Stanfield matter must be presumed innocent unless convicted.

56 charges for 13 accused

The Cloete matter included a total of 13 accused, who faced 56 charges, including murder, attempted murder, extortion, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).

The accused are: Cloete and Adams, as well as Preston Dolan, Jonathan Blou, Emile Rooi, Nathan Erasmus, Tyron Engelbrecht, Charlton Afrika, Jeandre Calvert, Marlon Benjamin, Rudolf Steenkamp, Thabiso Mavundlela and Roland Faans.

All 13 were charged under Poca. All except Dolan were convicted on three counts of contravening the Act.

Between 2016 and 2019, the 28s Mobsters gang operated across 12 areas in and near the Cape Flats, including Kuils River, Eerste River, Bishop Lavis, Kraaifontein, Kleinvlei, Athlone and Strand.

The State portrayed the violence as a retaliatory conflict between the 28s Mobsters and their rivals, the Horribles, with overlapping territories fuelling killings. Adams allegedly instructed gang members to kill Brown, identified as a Horribles leader. His son, Corne, also became a target.

Past 28s infiltration

The judgment brings renewed scrutiny to a warning issued by Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare on 17 October 2022. He raised the alarm over allegations that the 28s gang had infiltrated senior provincial police management, accessing forums where crime patterns, policing strategies and public safety were discussed.

Thulare also highlighted allegations that members of the military were selling firearms and ammunition to gangsters, potentially strengthening criminal networks and fuelling violence in communities already struggling under gang control.

The warning prompted provincial intervention. Premier Alan Winde ordered an investigation into possible gang infiltration of police management, while retired police officer and provincial Police Ombudsman Oswald Reddy investigated alleged links between gangsters and police officers.

In November 2025, Winde tabled a redacted version of the ombudsman’s report. Its release, however, left wider questions about the depth of criminal infiltration, institutional vulnerabilities and accountability.

The Cloete judgment provides a concrete example of the danger identified in those earlier warnings: evidence that a serving police officer used his position and access to information to benefit a criminal organisation.

From police uniform to gang arsenal

The court traced Cloete’s involvement in a firearm transaction to 2017, when he bought a weapon from a fellow police officer while on duty.

The State relied on testimony from a Section 204 witness, a police officer with 17 years’ service, who cannot be named, who said he owned a registered 9mm Norinco pistol, serial number 6600602.

After running out of money while gambling at Papa Joe’s pub in Blackheath, the officer decided to sell his personal firearm and contacted Cloete, a colleague he knew from their time at Bishop Lavis training college and subsequent special duties in Bellville.

According to the witness, Cloete arrived at his home in a marked police vehicle, wearing full uniform and on duty. He paid R2,000 for the firearm, which was handed over inside the vehicle.

The witness regretted the sale the following morning and asked for the weapon back. Cloete allegedly assured him it was safe and that he had a safe at home.

Two years later, the firearm resurfaced in Happy Valley. The judge found that the weapon had subsequently been found with one of the Mobsters’ groups.

The court also accepted evidence that Cloete supplied strategic information obtained through SAPS and that the information furthered criminal activity, resulting in people being killed or injured.

Alleged scouting before the hit

The evidence also examined the attempted killing of Cape Town DJ Corne Brown in Kuils River on 21 December 2018.

A Section 204 witness, a gang member who testified for the State, alleged that he and another gang member met Adams, Preston Dolan and Cloete that day. They were sitting in a silver “hokkie”, and the conversation allegedly was about Corne Brown, that he must be killed that evening at Wendy Brown’s house. 

The witness further alleged that Cloete went to scout the location before the planned attack. Information had emerged that the Browns were planning a party, and a woman at the house was expected to send a photograph.

Corne Brown survived the attack in Mars Street.

The same day, De Wet was shot dead inside a vehicle outside a relative’s home.

The judge stated: “I accept the evidence of the State witnesses that Cloete provided information to Adams and others that led to the decision to attack 20 Mars Street.”

The confessed hitman, Blake, a former Mobsters member who testified as an accomplice witness, also described Cloete as a source of information for Adams. He testified that Cloete used his police position to gather intelligence and pass it to the gang leader, helping him decide when members should shoot and when they should hold back.

Blake said he knew Cloete as “Fonnie” and had seen him in police uniform while visiting Adams in Happy Valley.

The judgment also dealt with a separate incident at Club Galaxy in October 2019. A Section 204 witness alleged that Brown, who was performing at the club, was the intended target and that Cloete transported him to a nearby Caltex garage. Cloete has denied these allegations.

Brown survived earlier incidents, but was shot and wounded while performing at a music festival at Prince Alfred Hamlet Sports Ground in Ceres on 1 February 2020. He died in a Worcester hospital on 13 February 2020. DM