Hawks flight success story of multiple arrests for police killings, 280 convictions for serious crimes

Lebeya briefed the media on Thursday, 15 June in Pretoria on the agency’s successes during the fourth quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year.

According to his report, the Hawks arrested 701 suspects who appeared in courts across the country. During the same period - 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2023 - a total of 284 accused were convicted and sentenced. 

The Hawks are the South African Police Services’ Directorate for Crime Investigation whose primary function is combatting, investigating and preventing national priority crimes such as serious organised crime, commercial crime and corruption.

The Hawks also arrested 38 suspects for cash-in-transit (CIT) robberies while four were convicted and sentenced during this quarter. Over and above, 30 suspects were arrested for CIT-related offences.

A total of 13 suspects were arrested by the DPCI for the murder of police officials while six were convicted and sentenced.

The Hawks also prioritise crimes relating to the Covid-19 relief fund. At the end of March 2023, a total 194 suspects were arrested. Of these, 49 out of 52 accused were convicted, which represents a 94% conviction rate. At the media briefing, Lebeya only highlighted 32 cases (of the 701 cases nationwide).  

The police killings and convictions detailed:

1. Detective Sergeant Sakhile Nsibande was shot on November 14, 2019 in KwaZulu-Natal and died as a result of his injuries. At the time of his death, authorities were looking for Phumowakhe Ndwandwe (24), who was wanted for house robbery and rape. Police had identified and surrounded his home. Ndwandwe fired rounds through the window before fleeing.


2. The body of former Major-General Thekiso Mogoerane was discovered on the back seat of his Hyundai Accent, which had been abandoned in Birchleigh, Kempton Park, on January 17, 2018. Nine suspects were apprehended, including the deceased’s wife, Lieutenant Colonel Cordelia Mogoerane at the time. Following a lengthy trial for conspiracy to commit murder and murder, the deceased's wife was sentenced to life imprisonment on 10 February 2023 by the Gauteng Local Division of the high court.


3. Kwe Dali (54), an off-duty traffic officer from Gauteng Community Safety, went to a tavern in Boksburg on the evening of October 10, 2021. Two individuals confronted him in his vehicle in the parking lot. They asked that he hand over valuables. They searched him and discovered a state firearm licence, which they stole. The officer was tortured, assaulted, and drenched in boiling water. He died as a result of his injuries.


4. Sergeant Koos Mokoena of Crime Intelligence Free State and Sergeant Andile Ranyane were killed at Phuthaditjaba on August 2, 2019. Between August 8 and 9, 2019, five individuals were apprehended. The Harrismith Regional Court condemned the five accused on February 24, 2023. Four of the five were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and the fifth was sentenced to 20 years in prison.


5. On March 6, 2020, a cash-in-transit robbery occurred in Mahikeng, killing Detective Warrant Officers Delene Grobler-Koonin (44) and Wynand Herbst (42) of the DPCI Tactical Operations Section. Suspects arrested include Solomon Ngubeni (47), Jabulani Moses Yika (41), Musa Mkhavela (33), Terefe Demmissie (39), Edgar Marule (47), Simphiwe Msibi (24), Jabulane Sibisi (53), Omphile Maswabi (33) and Thuso Tshepo Lobelo (31). Yika was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the North West high court sitting in Mmabatho on February 17, 2023. The case against the other suspects was remanded for trial on June 12-15, 2023.