COMMISSION’S NOTCH STICK: Madlanga’s sting: Airport arrests, assassinations, panic attacks, dishonourable discharges

Suliman Carrim, a former ANC regional treasurer in North West and businessperson, has become the latest “casualty” of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System – otherwise known as the Madlanga Commission.

Carrim and his family were preparing to make an annual end-of-year trip to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan when he was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport departures on Thursday night. 

His arrest in the departures hall on charges relating to a “cold case” involving the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality is just the start.

SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said Carrim’s arrest had been made after being alerted by the Madlanga Recommendations Task Team, who were, no doubt, keeping an eye on the ailing 47-year-old. He will also now face charges for failing to appear at the Madlanga Commission.

The Madlanga notch stick

Apart from Carrim, the fallout from appearances at the Madlanga Commission and the work of its investigators includes many big fish in law enforcement, the political fixing and information-peddling business as well as violent crime syndicates and extortionist cartels.

The commission has so far formally referred 14 officials for immediate criminal investigation.

Man of dishonour

Shadrack Sibiya: dishonourably discharged Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection.

Current status: behind bars awaiting bail on charges of human trafficking, rape and grooming an underage girl.

Another recent big catch is Shadrack Sibiya, who has been deeply implicated at the commission, with allegations including that he received bribes and was bankrolled by the alleged cartel kingpin, Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

He is also accused of ordering the removal of 121 dockets from the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) in 2025, allegedly having links to criminal cartels and orchestrating the investigation and arrest of Crime Intelligence head, Major General Dumisani Khumalo.

Sibiya’s fall from grace after a 37-year career in the SAPS is a domino closer to collapsing the entire chain.

Other notable deep-sea catches include the following.

The Brown Pimpernel

Brown Mogotsi: “businessman”, undercover “information peddler’ and political fixer.

Status: behind bars awaiting trial on various charges.

One of the first to fall after appearing at the commission was Brown Mogotsi, a mysterious political fixer, information peddler and self-proclaimed undercover operative. 

After staging and surviving a self- assassination attempt in November 2025 to avoid appearing before the commission, Mogotsi has found himself lingering behind bars.

He has been denied bail four times while facing multiple criminal charges including perjury, defeating the ends of justice, obstructing the administration of justice, possession of a firearm and ammunition and discharging these in a built-up area.

Latest news from the holding cells is that Mogotsi tried to bribe an official into giving him a correctional services uniform so that he could escape from the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court where he was expected to appear.

Last Motherf@#ker Breathing

Fannie Nkosi: SAPS Gauteng Organised Crime Unit member.

Status: suspended, arrested, behind bars awaiting criminal charges.

The affable but deadly Sergeant Fannie Nkosi – the inside man raised by the late taxi boss Jotham Msibi and who was a portal to SAPS deals and tenders – has been suspended, arrested and remains behind bars facing 13 criminal charges across Gauteng and Limpopo.

These include theft, fraud, money laundering, defeating the ends of justice and the unlawful possession of explosives/ammunition. These charges arose after a raid on Nkosi’s Pretoria North home in April, during which official case dockets, R50,000 hidden under a mattress and a hand grenade were seized.

The Madlanga Commission has in its possession all of Msibi’s old devices and has downloaded thousands of WhatsApp messages implicating a multitude of suspects. The taxi boss died in 2024, which is when a turf war began kicking up bodies and dust.

Nkosi has been accused of acting as an intermediary between key figures such as Sibiya and fashion-conscious alleged crime boss, Matlala, currently occupying a cell in C-Max, awaiting trial.

It was Nkosi who sent rapper Tupac’s Last Motherfucker Breathing in a WhatsApp message to private security owner Steve Motsumi after the planned and unlawful arrest of Crime Intelligence Head Dumisani Khumalo. 

Evidence in August 2026 was that Motsumi was allegedly present at a social gathering with Msibi, Nkosi and murder-accused “businessman”, Katiso “KT” Molefe, where the men planned the purchase of an IMSI “grabber” from a Czech supplier under the pretext that it was a legitimate SAPS order, to resell it in eSwatini.

The Madlanga Commission has heard that Msibi was provided with the details of the high-living Ekurhuleni city manager, Dr Imogen Mashazi, whom he contacted two days later. Evidence was also heard that Nkosi shared information on cash-in-transit investigations.

Motsumi is alleged to have loaned Matlala money for a SAPS renovations lease as well as to keep the R360-million Medicare24 police contract alive after SAPS had threatened cancellation.

Call me General

Feroz Khan: former suspended deputy head of SAPS Crime Intelligence.

Current status: facing charges alongside Gauteng Hawks head Major General Ebrahim Kadwa and businessperson Tariq Downes for allegedly running an illicit precious metals syndicate. Current medical condition unknown after being shot and wounded in an alleged assassination attempt a day before a scheduled appearance at the Madlanga Commission.

The game was over the night Feroz Khan was arrested in May on charges relating to a 2021 matter involving precious metals. All his electronic devices were seized during a raid on his Houghton home.

Until then, the elusive Khan had managed to escape appearing at Parliament’s ad hoc committee hearing into police corruption, as well as being exonerated during a disciplinary hearing, and was still in the hot seat. 

Then came the thousands of WhatsApps linking the top cop to a wide circle of alleged tobacco smugglers, politicians (Julius Malema), spare parts sellers and Covid PPE peddlers with whom he allegedly shared confidential tender information. 

He was called to testify, but was wounded in an alleged assassination attempt the night before he was set to appear. Khan has missed several appearances due to his medical condition, according to his legal team. Khan’s scheduled in camera appearance at the Mandlanga Commission has been postponed “indefinitely”. 

Dr Mashazi, if you please

Imogen Mashazi: former Ekurhuleni city manager.

Status: Retired, out on R50,000 bail.

Mashazi faces charges of defeating the ends of justice stemming from a blue light scandal involving Matlala. She also stands accused of colluding to halt internal disciplinary proceedings against EMPD Deputy Chief Julius Mkhwanazi.

Dr Mashazi’s lifestyle, including a R60-million mansion in the Waterfall Equestrian Estate and a secret R3.5-million ride on a Falcon 900EX jet to do some shopping courtesy of “businessman” Ze Khumalo, through his company Zig Revenue Management, alerted the thin blue line.

Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka has since found Mashazi guilty of improper conduct in another matter, that of improperly appointing Ndumiso Gcwabe as deputy chief of the Metro police’s rather ironically named Security and Loss Control division.

Sweat me a river

Julius Mkwanazi: former Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief.

Current status: Suspended, contract with city terminated while he remains behind bars on growing list of serious charges, including murder.

The man who sweated into rolls of tissue paper while facing a grilling of note at the commission now finds himself facing serious charges including kidnapping, murder and robbery. The beating to death of Emmanuel Mbense and the dumping of his body in the Duduza Dam in April 2022 has come back to haunt Mkhwanazi.

He has already appeared in court with co-accused Keisha-Leigh Stols, Adrian Mackenzie and Kgomotso Makhuba in connection with the alleged theft in Killarney in 2023 of precious stones worth R14-million, one of five separate criminal cases he faces.

The 51-year-old also faces charges related to an unlawful memorandum of understanding (MOU) he agreed to between the metro police department and Matlala’s company, CAT VIP Protection Services.

Mkhwanazi and his five co-accused were denied bail in the Brakpan Magistrates’ Court.

Hello Gorgeous

Andrea Johnson: former head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption.

Current status: vacated office in June.

The greatest shock at the Madlanga Commission was when evidence emerged that Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) head, advocate Andrea Johnson, had appeared to collude with Feroz Khan and others to have SAPS National Commissioner Fannie Masemola and Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant General Dumisani Khumalo arrested on trumped-up charges.

WhatsApp messages from Khan, who would greet Johnson with “hello gorgeous”, soon exposed “project diversion”, an investigation aimed at building cases against the two top cops.

It was the evidence of one of Johnson’s underlings, Drushantha Ramsamy, which blew apart the former Idac head’s up-till-then formidable reputation. Johnson was hospitalised due to stress from appearing at the commission.

DD or didn’t he?

Samuel Mashaba: Gauteng traffic official implicated in cocaine bust.

Status: Deceased.

Mashaba was summoned as a witness to the commission as one of four people arrested several years ago in connection with a R286-million cocaine interception. The cocaine consignment had been shipped from Brazil to Durban while concealed in Scania truck parts. 

It also emerged that Mashaba had been part of operations in 2019 targeting stolen gold and US dollars at OR Tambo International Airport.

However, it was his alleged connection to former deputy president, the late DD Mabuza, which raised eyebrows. A message from Mashaba to “businessman’ Tumelo Nku read, “I see DD is back, let’s move on our issues.”

Mashaba denied this, saying “DD” had been a reference to Nku’s uncle, Kebby Maphatsoe, an ANC politician and former deputy minister, who died in 2021.

Mashaba took ill and died in Milpark Hospital on 13 October.

Assassination

Witness D, Marius van der Merwe, was an Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department officer who was assassinated in December 2025 after confessing that he had been instructed by Julius Mkhwanazi to dispose of Emmanuel Mbense’s body after he had been beaten to death.

Former special task force policeman Matipandile Sotheni has been charged with Van der Merwe’s murder.

Death by his own hand

Wiandre Pretorius 

Security company employee and SAPS informer, one of several implicated in the tubing and torture of Mbense and the disposal of his body after a raid on a property in Sallies Village in Brakpan. Pretorius turned his gun on himself at a garage in Brakpan East in February 2025, ending his life. DM