The evidence of former Hawks head Lt-Gen Godfrey Lebeya points to deeper fault lines within South Africa’s law enforcement agencies, where investigations and high-profile raids have become entangled in factional battles, competing interests and allegations of misconduct.
A breakdown in communication between police units nearly led to an explosive confrontation during the arrest of alleged crime boss Katiso “KT” Molefe, former Hawks chief Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya told the Madlanga Commission on Thursday.
Arriving at Molefe’s Sandhurst, Sandton, home on 6 December 2024, Hawks officers walked into a volatile standoff with Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) and Gauteng Organised Crime Unit members, who were already raiding the mansion over the murder of businessman Armand Swart.
The incident and differing accounts of what transpired have exposed the fault lines between SAPS units, including the Hawks, Crime Intelligence and the PKTT.
The Madlanga Commission’s revelations have rocked the top ranks at both the Hawks and Crime Intelligence. Gauteng Hawks boss Ebrahim Kadwa and Crime Intelligence executive Feroz Khan now face criminal charges, while KZN Hawks leader Lesetja Senona has resigned under a cloud of serious accusations.
Lebeya told the commission a simple phone call between senior police officers could have prevented the confusion that unfolded at Molefe’s house, but former Crime Intelligence boss and PKTT head Dumisani Khumalo had purposefully withheld information due to fears that other SAPS units were compromised.
Describing the standoff at Molefe’s home, Lebeya said: “A confrontational atmosphere was established where various units had to respond effectively to the events purported to take place. The atmosphere might have led to unintended outcomes, including the possibility of friendly fire.
“If Lieutenant General Khumalo had informed the national head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation [the DPCI, or Hawks] about the operation, or if upon receiving a report about the presence of the members of the Hawks at the scene, he had checked with me, the situation would not have occurred.”
Why the Hawks intervened
Questioned about whether Molefe prompted the Hawks’ intervention, Lebeya insisted he had no contact with the alleged “Big Five” cartel figure. He told the inquiry that he didn’t even know Molefe and only stepped in after receiving a call from the TikTok influencer Malcolm X, who was at Molefe’s home.
Lebeya said Malcolm X told him that people at the house were claiming to be Hawks officers acting on Lebeya’s instructions.
“I have never instructed the members of the [Hawks] to interrupt a legitimate police operation,” said Lebeya, adding that he treated the call seriously due to the threat of criminals impersonating police.
By December 2024, he said, the DPCI was aware of more than 30 unresolved cases involving people who had allegedly impersonated Hawks members.
“We had in the past arrested persons who pretended to be from the Hawks, some wearing Hawks T-shirts... Some were inmates operating inside correctional services facilities,” he said.
He noted that his relationship with Malcolm X dated back to 18 April 2023, when Malcolm X visited his office, and the two were photographed together.
**They could have called **
The dramatic raid on Molefe’s home first made headlines during KZN Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive 6 July 2025 briefing. Mkhwanazi disclosed that as the task team moved in on key syndicate figures on 6 December 2024, “unusual activities” unfolded at Molefe’s home – including a senior manager sending officers to disrupt the scene. The standoff was defused only when the arriving members realised the operation was legitimate and stood down.
Lebeya’s account contrasts with evidence heard earlier by the commission. In October 2025, Witness A, a member of the Gauteng Organised Crime Unit investigating criminal cartels in the province, described the standoff between his team and the Hawks during Molefe’s arrest.
Witness A said they were alerted to Hawks members at the gate demanding to know what they were doing at Molefe’s house.
“I was called outside and told them it was a legitimate operation taking place at Molefe’s house, and executing an arrest. They asked where we were coming from. I told them we came from organised crime, working with the Political Killings Task Team.
“The Hawks wanted details of the case we were working on and wanted to be briefed about the case. I said, ‘No, we cannot do this,’ because what are their interests in this case, why do they want details of the matter? And told them [that] to give them information on the Molefe case would not be proper,” the commission heard.
Witness A further stated that the Hawks officials told them that they had been sent by Lebeya.
Testifying on Thursday, Lebeya said it was “probable” that Mkhwanazi already knew about the involvement of the Serious Organised Crime Unit in the Swart murder investigation in November 2024, when he approved a request from Khumalo to deploy 10 KwaZulu-Natal members to Gauteng because of the organised-crime threat surrounding the case.
Lebeya said he knew both Khumalo, then head of Crime Intelligence, and Major General Mbuso Khumalo, then Gauteng deputy provincial commissioner for crime detection.
“None of the two has shared information about a possible operation that would have obviated the need to send the Hawks team,” Lebeya told the Madlanga Commission.
He acknowledged that the Molefe operation was secret, but said secrecy did not explain why senior officers could not have been alerted once the operation was under way.
“While accepting that the operation was secret, when the team updated Khumalo from Crime Intelligence about developments, a telephone call to advise me that his team was conducting an operation could have avoided the unnecessary confusion,” he said. DM
