A Family Still Waiting: Inside the Mbense Murder Mystery and the Fight for Truth

A story South Africa knows too well

Every South African has, at some point, watched a family fight a lonely battle for justice. But the unfolding case of 51-year-old Emmanuel Mbense, allegedly tortured and murdered by the very people meant to enforce the law, has shaken even those who thought they’d become numb to stories of brutality.

His family has now turned to AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, led by Gerrie Nel, hoping that someoneanyone, will finally pull the truth into daylight.

And South Africans are watching closely.

MEDIA STATEMENT: Family of slain Brakpan man demands justice following revelations of torture, disposal in dam at Madlanga Commission

After more than three years of pleading with authorities for answers, the family of Emmanuel Mbense (51), a father of five who was allegedly… pic.twitter.com/cDhQ5iQAuw

Barry Bateman (@barrybateman) December 10, 2025

The horror the family learned with the rest of the country

For more than two years, the Mbense family lived in the dark. They knew Emmanuel had died. They knew his body was found at Duduza Dam in Nigel, keys still in his pocket. But they didn’t know how.

That reality hit them publiclyon camerawhen whistleblower Marius van der Merwe, better known as Witness D, finally told the Madlanga Commission what he said happened on 15 April 2022.

His testimony described a scene out of a nightmare:
• EMPD officers
• SAPS members
• Private security operators
• And even alleged police impersonators

…all allegedly involved in storming Mbense’s home in Brakpan, torturing him, and ultimately dumping his lifeless body in a dam.

Days after giving that explosive testimony, Witness D was assassinated. Shot dead. In front of his family.

On social media, that detail became the spark for public outrage.
“How does a witness die right after testifying?” one user asked on X.
Another wrote: “This country is lawless. Even the truth is being hunted.”

A case that exposes cracks in the system

Gerrie Nel didn’t mince his words. In a letter to IPID, he accused the watchdog body of dragging their feet and, intentionally or not, creating the impression that some officers were being shielded.

He warned that the delays were “a stratagem to conceal the extent of criminal activity in law enforcement”.

It’s not the first time South Africans have heard this. But hearing it in a case where:
• A civilian died,
• A witness was killed,
• Evidence of brutality was presented to a public commission,

…hits differently.

IPID says the investigation is in its final stages. South Africans have heard that line before.

A brother speaks: “We were re-traumatised in public”

For the first time, the Mbense family is speaking out about what these past years have felt like.

His brother Nhlanhla describes Emmanuel as the family’s “anchor”, a man who looked after his mother, siblings, and his five children.

But he also speaks of the pain of learning the horrifying details of Emmanuel’s final moments at the same time as strangers watching the broadcast.

“It has stripped away any chance for us to prepare ourselves emotionally. We were re-traumatised again as the details unfolded.”

He says turning to AfriForum wasn’t a political decisionit was a survival one.

“We were left with no choice. The institutions we trusted failed us.”

And that pain resonates deeply in a country where faith in the justice system is already threadbare.

The chilling testimony that changed everything

According to Witness D, the operation that ended in Mbense’s death began with a call to help “knock” the house of a suspect linked to a robbery.

At the home, he said:
• “Tubing”an apartheid-era torture methodwas used
• Mbense offered R500 000 to avoid harm
• He later died during the assault
• Officers allegedly debated how to cover it up

When Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi allegedly instructed them to dump the body, the group moved him to the dam in Nigel.

The bed where the torture allegedly happened is still there. AfriForum photographed ithumanising the horror in a way that even text can’t.

Brigadier Mkhwanazi has since been suspended.

A witness dies, a family fights on

One of the most troubling elements is that a witness who should have been protected was not only allowed to walk free but testified publicly, without the safeguards of a criminal court.

AfriForum spokesperson Barry Bateman questioned why Van der Merwe and others were never arrested or placed in protective custody:

“It’s inexplicable. A witness or accused should have been in a courtroom, where protection is possible.”

Instead, Van der Merwe was assassinated just a week later.

The symbolism is hard to ignore.

A case bigger than one man

This story is no longer just about Emmanuel Mbense.
It’s about:
• Police accountability
• Failures in witness protection
• Private security’s growing role in policing
• IPID’s capacityand willingnessto act
• And a justice system that too often leaves families alone in the dark

As AfriForum takes on the case, the family hopes for what South Africans fear will not come easily: answers.

What’s next?

AfriForum says it will monitor this case closely to ensure every implicated officer and security official is held accountable.

The country, once again, waits.

Because if this case goes unanswered, the message is loud and chilling:

If someone can be tortured, killed, dumped in a dam, and the truth buried for yearsthen no one is safe.

And that is why the Mbense family refuses to stop.

{Source: The Citizen}

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