Madlanga inquiry questions informant’s presence at R300m, 750kg cocaine bust

Who was at the scene and why it mattered

Warrant Officer Marumo Magane, commander of the Crime Information Management and Analysis Centre at SAPS Zonkizwe police station, told the commission that informant Tumelo Nku had tipped off his handler, traffic officer Samuel Mashaba, about alleged drug trafficking in a truck delivering cargo to Johannesburg. Magane said Mashaba then contacted him to assist with the operation.

The truck, managed by Yellow Jersey Logistics, delivered vehicle body parts to Scania South Africa in Aeroton, south of Johannesburg, where officers found 23 bags of cocaine inside the vehicle.

Questions about why the informant stayed

Co-commissioner Advocate Sandile Khumalo SC questioned why Nku remained at the scene after the tip-off was verified and the drugs were found. Khumalo suggested Nku may have been there to monitor the drugs and their destination, a line of questioning he described as a worry and a suspicion rather than a stated fact.

During the exchange, Khumalo asked Magane:

“The question is the information has been checked out. What is the occupant (Nku) of a BMW still doing there? Why do you not excuse him? Why does he remain at the scene together with these bags while all of you are there? Was the plan that you are going to go together with him and book these drugs in his presence?”

Magane said Nku was present but did not take part in removing bags from the truck and that it did not cross his mind to excuse Nku from the scene. He did not comment on the commissioner’s suggestion that Nku might have been watching the drugs.

Safety and procedural concerns

Khumalo flagged safety and standard informant behaviour, noting that informants typically do not expose themselves at operations. He said:

“I have a worry that the presence of that person there was to look at those drugs and to see what was to happen to them. I put it no higher than that; that is a worry and a suspicion. I am not stating it as a fact. I am doing it to test your thoughts on this issue.”

Khumalo also pointed out that Nku’s BMW 7 Series was parked close to the scene and suggested that someone could have loaded bags into the car. Magane replied he knew who owned the vehicle, insisted the occupant was not involved, and said it would have been impossible for anyone to load bags into the car given the number of people present, including security guards.

Concerns about police conduct at the bust

Magane was criticised during testimony for loading cocaine bricks onto his bakkie after the seizure. Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga also questioned why Mashaba and Magane were conducting a drug bust when both, he said, were outside their specialty.

Madlanga asked:

“Both of you know nothing at all about handling a drug bust. What on earth did you think you were doing when you started searching that truck, removing whatever it is you removed, and loading it onto your bakkie?”

In response Mashaba said:

“In all honesty, the sole intention was to verify the information and have a successful operation. Even though neither of us had experience handling a drug bust, we sourced relevant functionaries to come and assist.”

What was left unsaid

Magane did not address the commission’s specific concern that Nku might have been present to keep an eye on the drugs, and the record shows that some of the seized drugs later went missing after police handed them to the SAPS Forensic Science Laboratory.

The testimony formed part of ongoing proceedings at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, where questions about handling, chain of custody and possible misconduct at the Johannesburg bust are being examined.