A 9mm Parabellum Taurus pistol used in Swart's brutal killing was seized by police.
A new witness told the Madlanga commission that one of the firearms linked to the killing of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart had its serial number filed off.
Senior forensic analyst Solomon Modisane, who serves in the South African Police Service (Saps), took the stand on Tuesday before the commission, which is investigating allegations of criminal infiltration of the criminal justice system.
Madlanga commission: Armand Swart firearms linked to other murders
His appearance followed that of Mishak Mkhabela, head of ballistics at the police’s Forensic Science Laboratory in Silverton, Pretoria.
Mkhabela presented a visual report showing that the firearms used in the April 2024 murder of Swart – an AK-47 rifle and three pistols – had been connected to more than 20 other criminal cases.
These include the murders of music personalities Oupa “DJ Sumbody” Sefoka and Hector “DJ Vintos” Buthelezi, as well as businessman Don Tindleni.
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Earlier evidence before the commission revealed that an initial ballistics analysis completed in May 2024 by police analyst Itumeleng Makgotloe, contained numerous errors and failed to link any of the firearms to other cases – allegedly in an attempt to derail investigations.
Mkhabela, however, told the commission that the inaccuracies were the result of human error rather than deliberate tampering.
He testified that the faults were later identified and rectified by Makgotloe in a revised ballistics report dated October 2024.
Firearms analysed twice
On Tuesday, Modisane, a member of the political killings task team (PKTT) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), testified that he was asked to examine whether the firearms used in Swart’s murder matched those involved in the killings of Sefoka, Buthelezi and Tindleni.
He testified that on 30 December 2024, he discovered the firearms had already been examined in Pretoria and Amanzimtoti in KZN – something he found to be “bizarre”.
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The expert told the commission he learned that investigators in the Swart case had identified “irregularities” in the initial ballistics test results, prompting a second examination in KZN.
Modisane then requested access to the second report to proceed with his own analysis.
He told the commission that he limited his work solely to the firearms comparison to avoid any perceptions of bias or personal interest in the investigation.
Evidence examination
Modisane testified that he received two sealed bags of exhibits related to Sefoka’s murder.
Inside, he found multiple fired cartridge cases, two 9mm Parabellum fired cartridge cases and four test-fired bullets, among other items.
The ballistics expert detailed the evidence collected from the Buthelezi and Tindleni crime scenes.
Modisane told the commission that the cartridge cases from the Swart case bore a “common origin” with those recovered from the other three murders, all fired from a Russian Kalashnikov AK-47 fully automatic rifle.
He added that 9mm Parabellum cartridge cases collected at the Buthelezi crime scene had been discharged from the same Taurus pistol used in Swart’s killing.
At first, he explained, he was unable to confirm the connection because the pistol’s serial number had been erased.
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However, the number was eventually recovered using electromagnetic and acid etching techniques.
“We need to undertake a process of preparing the surface where the serial number has been obliterated, or the area where the serial number was originally stamped.
“We prepare the surface and apply chemicals on the surface to make the serial number visible.
“When the number comes up, we note it on a piece of paper,” Modisane told the commission.
He said that serial numbers can consist of either numbers or letters of the alphabet.
Watch the Madlanga commission below:
Modisane suggested that Makgotle may have failed to recover the serial number on the Taurus pistol for several possible reasons, such as lack of training.
“They include a person who is not willing to go the extra mile or who doesn’t do more, who couldn’t do more to try and retrieve the serial number.
“The other factors could be the chemicals that we are using. Maybe somehow, if the chemicals also are expired or there can be a difficulty in getting the serial number.
“The other factor could be maybe the person is deliberately omitting to do his job.”
Rapid turnaround
Modisane told the commission that he was able to finish his analysis of all four murder cases in a single day.
He noted that while the Saps typically takes around 30 days to produce ballistic test results, the PKTT aimed to complete its analyses within just three days.
“In PKTT, we had a motivating factor. We worked on the case until we finished it.”
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