A shocking testimony at the Madlanga Commission has laid bare a direct line from multi-million rand state corruption to a cold-blooded murder, revealing a web of alleged criminality involving a Transnet buyer, a suspected drug cartel kingpin, and a police officer moonlighting as a hitman.
The chain of events began with a single, stunning detail: a humble spring, worth R4, was being sold to the state-owned Transnet for R151 apiece. When an internal inspector flagged this 3,700% price inflation, it triggered a panic that would allegedly end in the death of an innocent man.
According to “Witness B,” a protected organised crime officer, Transnet buyer Lucky Molefe was under pressure in April 2024 to hand over the doctored tender documents. Instead, he allegedly turned to his uncle, Katiso “KT” Molefe—a man named in court as part of the “Big Five” drug cartel.
KT Molefe then allegedly enlisted Michael Tau, a then-serving police officer accused of working as a hitman. The target was believed to be a whistleblower. However, in a tragic case of mistaken identity, engineer Armand Swart was gunned down in Vereeniging on 17 April 2024.
While Tau and two other alleged hitmen were arrested on the day of the murder, and KT Molefe was arrested eight months later and is out on R400,000 bail, the alleged instigator, Lucky Molefe, remains at large. Police have issued a public warning for him to hand himself over.
The commission heard that this alleged murder-for-hire was a direct response to the exposure of a brazen looting scheme, exposing how the criminal capture of a state entity can have fatal consequences for ordinary citizens.
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