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2mo ago

Madlanga Hearings Spotlight Missing R200m Cocaine and Possible Hawks Collusion

Flawed polygraph evidence and a witness claim that the thieves are linked to Hawks managers raise urgent questions about unit oversight and port security.

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Warrant Officer Karl Sander of the Directorate for Priority Crimes (Hawks) in KwaZulu-Natal testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry at Brigette Mabandla Judicial College on 1 June 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa established the commission to investigate and report on the veracity, scope, and extent of the allegations made on 6 July 2025 by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi that South Africa’s criminal justice system was compromised. Picture: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
Warrant officer Karl Sander testifies before the Madlanga commission at Brigitte Mabandla Judicial College in Pretoria on 1 June 2026. Picture: Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu

Overview

  • A 541kg cocaine shipment seized in June 2021 at an Isipingo depot was kept in Hawks custody and later went missing from a walk-in safe at the Port Shepstone Hawks office in November 2021.
  • Warrant Officer Karl Sander testified on Monday and Tuesday that he was treated as a suspect despite being on leave when the drugs vanished and said the people who stole the consignment and their links to Hawks management are known.
  • An administrative review presented at the commission found serious errors in Sander’s polygraph examination and declared the test invalid, a finding Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga said effectively exonerated him.
  • Multiple witnesses told the inquiry the Port Shepstone facility lacked basic security measures such as alarms and CCTV, and testimony highlighted how organised-crime syndicates use advanced tracking and control of port access to move drugs.
  • KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major General Lesetja Senona has been subpoenaed to testify on Friday and faces questions over decisions to move the drugs and alleged management failings; no criminal charges have been announced to date.