An affidavit alleges sensitive Crime Intelligence information was unlawfully leaked after police seized Major-General Feroz Khan's electronic devices.
Crime Intelligence officer Feroz Khan appears at the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on 11 May 2026. Picture: Gallo Images/OJ Koloti
Senior intelligence figures fear that the public disclosure of information allegedly extracted from Major-General Feroz Khan’s seized cellphones could be one of the biggest intelligence security breaches in SA history.
According to a source close to the investigation, years of Crime Intelligence work may have been compromised, exposing confidential informants, intelligence methodologies and people linked to some of South Africa’s most sensitive police investigations.
Khan prepares complaint over alleged disclosure
The allegations emerge from a criminal complaint Khan prepared days before he was shot in an apparent assassination attempt outside his Houghton home last week, over the alleged unlawful dissemination of information extracted from electronic devices seized during a police raid on his home.
The Citizen has seen the affidavit he intended lodging, in which he does not accuse Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga of wrongdoing.
Instead, Khan asks investigators to determine who, along the chain of custody after his devices were seized, unlawfully released protected intelligence information into the public domain.
According to Khan, the devices contained years of accumulated Crime Intelligence material, including operational communications, intelligence-driven investigations, confidential source information, investigative methodologies, kidnapping investigations and communications with other law enforcement role players.
He warns in the statement that its dissemination may have compromised operational structures, ongoing investigations, the safety of operational personnel and the security interests of South Africa.
In the complaint, not yet filed, he specifically requests investigators to determine whether offences were committed under Section 4 of the Protection of Information Act, or any other legislation.
Section 4 criminalises the unlawful disclosure, publication, communication or negligent handling of protected information relating to the security or interests of the republic.
It extends to people who receive protected information while knowing, or reasonably suspecting, that it has been unlawfully disclosed.
“I take issue with the fact that someone along the chain of custody, in breach of Section 4, released sensitive information to the public at large,” Khan wrote.
Questions over chain of custody
The alleged breach originated during a police search at Khan’s residence on 10 May under a warrant linked to an investigation.
Officers seized multiple electronic devices, including cellphones, a tablet, electronic storage devices and other equipment.
While Khan challenged the legality of the search and seizure in the High Court in Johannesburg, he says he subsequently became aware through affidavits filed in those proceedings that information extracted from the devices had been utilised in proceedings before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
He further alleged that documents containing extracts from those devices were uploaded to the CaseLines online platform, where matters are publicly listed, before portions of the material became publicly available and were reported in the media.
“I do not take issue in these proceedings with the commission’s current possession of the information. That is the subject of high court proceedings,” Khan wrote in the affidavit.
Instead, he said investigators should determine if someone entrusted with access to the material unlawfully disclosed it before it entered the public domain.
His affidavit noted that mirror images, forensic extractions and copies of the devices were created, but said he does not know who accessed, handled or disseminated the information.
He asks investigators to reconstruct the entire chain of custody and establish the legal authority under which the material was accessed.
Intelligence community raises alarm
The allegations have heightened concerns among senior figures in the intelligence community.
A source close to those structures said there were significant legal and operational implications if the information had indeed been unlawfully disclosed.
“The first aspect you need to look at is that there was not a search and seizure warrant and they did not have consent to take those phones,” said the source.
“There was a warrant of arrest, but at no stage did they say they were looking for phones.”
The source questioned whether information obtained in those circumstances could lawfully be relied upon.
“You can’t break the law to uphold the law. They shouldn’t be able to obtain information in an unlawful manner. We’re all trying to fix law enforcement in this country and you can’t fix law enforcement by acting gung-ho. You have to fix law enforcement by sticking to the letter of the law.”
Concerns over exposed sources
The source said the greatest concern in law enforcement circles was not whether Khan could explain the contents of his devices, but whether confidential sources and operational methods had now been exposed.
“Khan has been a policeman for 37 years. He has developed sources over decades. Without giving the full context to those WhatsApps and putting them into the public domain, it puts people’s lives at risk.”
According to the source, the fact that third parties now have access to the material has sent shock waves through intelligence structures.
“We don’t know who may have shared those mirrored images of his devices within the SA Police Service and we don’t know who shared them within the Madlanga commission. What we do know is that it’s now in the public domain and a lot of sources are nervous because they don’t know who has possession of his messages.”
