The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has arrested one of the suspects implicated in the alleged theft of precious stones worth nearly R14.9 million from a Johannesburg apartment, the first arrest linked to allegations that surfaced before the Madlanga Commission.
The suspect was arrested on Friday and is being held at the Edenvale police holding cells. He is expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
IPID said Tactical Response Team (TRT) members were still searching for two other suspects on Saturday after they could not be located during an operation on Friday night.
“Yesterday, IPID had three warrants of arrest, and the arrest of the other two remaining suspects will be in the coming weeks, while the sixth suspect has since died,” the watchdog said in a statement on Saturday.
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The investigation centres on a February 2023 raid at a private residence in Killarney, Johannesburg, where officials allegedly searched the property without a warrant and seized precious stones valued at nearly R15 million.
According to IPID, six people were initially implicated in the matter: three members of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), a Gauteng Traffic Police officer, a Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officer assigned to the VIP Unit, and a private businessman accused of impersonating a police officer during the operation.
The suspects face corruption charges after EMPD officers allegedly conducted an investigation outside their jurisdiction and failed to record the seized stones in the South African Police Service occurrence book.
IPID also alleges that some of the seized stones were later recovered from the vehicle of one of the EMPD members.
The watchdog also questioned why some of those involved were participating in the operation, saying neither Gauteng Traffic Police officers nor members of the JMPD VIP Unit have investigative powers.
“Community Safety or Traffic officers do not conduct investigations but enforce traffic by-laws. The JMPD officer is based in the VIP Unit, and they do not conduct investigations,” IPID said.
The arrests follow evidence before the Madlanga Commission that detailed how the operation was allegedly planned and carried out.
Witness K, whose identity is protected, testified before the commission that she had received information about sugilite stones allegedly stored in an apartment in Killarney.
She testified that she passed the information to suspended former EMPD deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi, who allegedly assembled a team comprising EMPD officers including Kesha Leigh Stols and Norman Mackenzie, a JMPD officer (Witness K), and a civilian, Andy van der Walt, to carry out the operation.
According to her testimony, although the stones were later valued at R14.9 million, they were sold for only R110,000. She said the money was divided among the group after the operation, with R88,000 shared between Mkhwanazi, Stols, Mackenzie, and Van der Walt, while she kept R22,000.
Witness K also testified that while the apartment owner admitted he did not have the permits required to possess the stones, the officials allegedly had no legal authority to conduct the search or seize the minerals. Those allegations now form part of IPID’s criminal investigation.
IPID said the investigation is continuing, and more arrests are expected as officers pursue the remaining suspects named in the case.
