Hawks to crack the whip on state capture investigations

Allocating resources to the Hawks will play an essential role in the government’s ability to tackle high-profile corruption investigations linked to the state capture inquiry.

This was according to Hawks head Lieutenant-General Advocate Godfrey Lebeya.

He was speaking at the handover ceremony of 88 new vehicles and hundred laptops for the officers at the Hawks’ head office in Silverton, Pretoria on Tuesday.

The vehicles were additions to the previous 214 handed over by the police Deputy Minister Cassel Mathale in February last year.

As public pressure mounts for criminal investigations and prosecutions following a report in January by the judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture, Lebeya said they were hard at work to deliver criminal investigations.

“These resources come at a critical moment when our focus is also on investigations emanating from the state capture report,” Lebeya said.

He said four of the 88 would be allocated to officers of the task team with the Investigative Directorate (ID) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) probing cases linked to state capture.

From January, the new head of the judiciary, Judge Raymond Zondo handed over staggered reports of the commission’s findings to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The findings detailed government departments and state-owned entities entangled in a web of corruption and fraud, conducted by a network of individuals, which included government officials. Testimonies from whistleblowers pinned the masterminds of the capture to be the Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh.

In the commission’s first report, it described the state-owned entity South African Airways (SAA) under the tenure of then-SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni as “racked by corruption and fraud”.

SAA was just one of many entities found to have been looted by high-ranking officials.

Recently, the directorate nabbed two bogus Hawks investigators for allegedly approaching a suspect in a drug-dealing case demanding a R300 000 bribe to destroy a case docket. The directorate also made an international drug bust in Pretoria.

Lebeya said the new vehicles would improve their work and ensure about 176 officials have vehicles. He added these resources would address detectives’ inability to constantly attend court cases.

“The provision for the vehicles comes after a vehicle audit for the 2021/22 financial year,” Lebeya said.

Police minister Bheki Cele said the government was working towards addressing the resource shortcomings within the security and justice system.

“It is public knowledge that the public purse continues to be under pressure,” Cele said.

“We all have no option but to tighten our belts.”

He said despite the financial challenges, there were operational needs within the SAPS that were far too important not to be addressed.

Cele said the Hawks had dropped momentum in busting and arresting high-profile cases.

“There was a time when people saw the Hawks’ vehicles they got worried because the Hawks were known for investigating and arresting. It is time you get back to that. When the hawk is flying, the chickens must run and be captured.”

These vehicles are not for your leisure, Cele warned the officers.

“They are not for you to pick up your children from school or to ferry your girlfriends. These cars belong to the nation and they expect you to do the work you are mandated to.”

Hawks Captain Tebogo Maluleke said the provision of the vehicles would make the work of investigators simpler, adding that “convictions will be made and no stone will be left unturned”.

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