Sergeant Nkosi shared information with a journalist named Natasha, including Mr. Khawula's details and a warrant of arrest, so she could call the nearest police to effect an arrest if she saw Mr. Khawula around.
“I think shared it just to assure this one that she must not worry, I have got everything that I wanted, I do not need her to give me that information, the way. Maybe if she sees him around where she have fun, she would call the nearest police office, officers to come and effect arrest.”
Mr Mnisi did not physically come down to Kroonstad with Sergeant Nkosi to execute the operation involving Mr Khawula.
“Initially when I read the chats , I thought that maybe Mr Khawula had come down , sorry , Mr Mnisi had come down with you to Kroonstad , but I think now that my initial understanding was incorrect , he did not come down with you to Kroonstad , did he ? ... Yes , that is correct .”
The operation plan involved waiting for Mr Khawula at 23h00 to be on stage and then arresting him because he had been gossiping about politicians, though Sergeant Nkosi denied this was the primary reason.
“You explained to Mr Mnisi in relation to Mr Khawula : “ We are waiting for him at 23 h 00 to be on stage , then we arrest . He stopped to gossip about politicians . ” ... Did you understand that the reason for this hunt for Mr Khawula was primarily to stop him gossiping about politicians ? ... No .”
Mr Khawula had published material about Minister Mbalula, which concerned General Sabiya.
“One of the reasons you understood General Sabiya to be so concerned about this case was that Mr Khawula had published material about Minister Mbalula .”
Sergeant Nkosi sent Mr Matlala a warrant for the arrest of Mr Khawula on 21 October 2024 because Mr Matlala frequented similar places as Mr Khawula and could effect the arrest if he saw him there.
“I did not say there were not enough police officials to arrest Mr Khawula. I said I sent the warrant to Mr Matlala because whenever he goes to the pubs or places to have fun, he sees or he might see Mr Khawula and then he will effect the arrest or call the cops and show them the warrants so that they must arrest Mr Khawula.”
Mr Nxumalo sent Sergeant Nkosi various documents on 17th October 2024 including Mr Khawula's profiling report, consumer tracer report, and identity details.
“And those were what Mr Nxumalo sent you on the 17th of October 2024 .”
ADV CHASKALSON SC / SERGEANT NKOSIDay 78 · 16 Mar 2026Refers to: 17 October 2024
Complaint by Mr Nxumalo against Mr Khawula may not fall under organized crime category, but the matter is pursued according to the functions of the organized crime unit.
“This complaint by Mr Nxumalo against Mr Khawula, does it fall in the category of organised crime cases?”
Sergeant Nkosi suspects Mr Khawula of being involved in organised crime due to repeated failure to appear in court, issuance of arrest warrants, and subsequent lack of arrest.
“I t d o e s n o t f a l l o n o r g a n i s e d c r i m e . B u t a c c o r d i n g t o m e , b a s e d o n M r K h a w u l a , h e h a s b e e n a r r e s t e d , g i v e n b a i l d o e s n o t a p p e a r , w a r r a n t o f a r r e s t i s i s s u e d , a n d t h e n h e i s n o t a r r e s t e d . A r r e s t e d s o m e w h e r e a g a i n , d o e s n o t a t t e n d , a n d t h e n a n o t h e r w a r r a n t o f a r r e s t i s i s s u e d . T h e n , a s o r g a n i s e d c r i m e , w e s t a r t t o t h i n k , w h y i s t h i s o n e n o t b e i n g a r r e s t e d ? T h e n w e s t a r t t o g e t i n v o l v e d . Th a t i s a c c o r d i n g t o m e .”
Sergeant Nkosi suspected Mr Khawula of involvement with organised crime because he missed appearances.
“S o , y o u s u s p e c t e d h i m , b e c a u s e h e h a s b e e n m i s s i n g a p p e a r a n c e s , y o u s u s p e c t e d h i m t o b e i n v o l v e d w i t h o r g a n i s e d c r i m e ?”
The investigating officer was already at the scene according to information from Mr Khawula, but Sergeant Nkosi and team decided also to go to the arrest event.
“T h e i n v e s t i g a t i n g o f f i c e r w a s a l r e a d y i n h i s w a y t h e r e , a c c o r d i n g t o t h e i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t I r e c e i v e d f r o m M r K h a w u l a . A n d a s p a r t a n d p a r c e l o f o u r p r o j e c t i n h e a d o f f i c e , I e x p l a i n e d t o C o m m i s s i o n e r B a l o y i t h a t t h e r e w e r e o t h e r d o c k e t s t h a t t h e y w e r e w o r k i n g o n t h e r e . S o , w e d e c i d e d , n o , l e t u s a l s o a s w e l l a n d g o .”
The docket related to the Khawula matter remained at the station and was part of organised crime docket but was not yet called because Mr Khawula was not arrested.
“It was still there in the station, but the plan was once he is arrested, the docket is going to be called.”
The plan was to have unidentifiable SAPS members at the concert to establish the location of Mr Khawula and arrest him, but none of the six tickets were allocated to the investigating officer actually performing the arrest.
“I thought that the whole purpose of this operation was to have SAPS members at the concert not identifiable as SAPS members so that they could establish where Mr Khawula was and arrest him. That was the purpose.”
Sergeant Nkosi admitted that the investigating officer was expected to follow the team to the concert but arrived late and never got a ticket to get in, so no plans were made for his entry.
“When I phoned him that the information said or suggested that Mr Khawula is at the concert, the investigating officer promised to follow us there. But on that particular time when we arrived, he was not there...so we thought we would as a team make a plan for him to get in when he is there...he did not arrive there, so we did not make any plan.”
Mr Khawula was not present at the Kroon Park Holiday Resort concert where six policemen from Gauteng attended an operation in Kroonstad.
“the tickets for the concert where you failed to find Mr Khawula ... the concert was held at Kroon Park Holiday Resort ... So this operation took six policemen from Gauteng to Kroonstad ... With the possibility of a seventh , the investigating officer . ... It was never ever intended for the investigating officer to be there ... No , no , no , it was . It was intended ... So , he was recently appointed now in our office ... So , at the time of this operation , he was now in your office ? ... That is correct .”
Sergeant Nkosi confirms Mabunda facilitated police presence at a concert to arrest Mr Khawula.
“He facilitates your presence at the concert in order for you to arrest Mr Khawula ... Yes ... That is correct ... So , he is basically there again , playing a facilitative role .”
Mr Khawula was arrested for contravening the Cybercrime Act and crimen injuria, not for murder or failure to appear in court, according to the cell register and warrant.
“the reason that Mr Khawula is arrested in the end is for contravening the Cybercrime Act and crimen injuria, not because of murder or the other many things that you have said fail to appear in court. It is in fact for the simple crime of contravening the Cybercrime Act and crimen injuria. You accept that ? Because that is what this cell register says. It states why he was arrested, and that is what the warrant was about”
Sergeant Nkosi confirms that initially Mr Khawula was arrested on charges related to contravening the Cybercrime Act and crimen injuria, but when transported from KZN to Sandton, all other charges including attempted murder and malicious damage to property were applied and warrants executed.
“Yes, at that time, this cell register, those people arrested him on these charges. But once he was transported from KZN to Sandton now, that is where by all the charges of attempted murder, malicious damage to property, their warrants were executed.”
Sergeant Nkosi states that the sending of six police officers to Kroonstad was not an abuse of state funds because Mr Khawula is a public figure and there are difficulties arresting such individuals due to community backlash.
“According to me, I would not see or suggest it is a state funds abuse, because one, Mr Khawula is a public figure. Sometimes you go there and want to affect arrest them, and then the community, they start to turn against you. What are you going to do? It is another problem.”
Sergeant Nkosi admits the police in KwaZulu-Natal effected Mr Khawula's arrest, and there was no need for police resources to travel to Kroonstad since local police could have assisted.
“The police in KZN, in fact, effected the arrest. Is that not so? That is correct, Commissioner.”
Lt-Gen Shibiri claims it was not Mr Khawula extorting money but someone pretending to be speaking to Khawula, acting on behalf of himself and Khawula and demanding money from Mr Matlala.
“Actually it is not Khawula who was extorting money... somebody who is purporting to be speaking to Khawula... He is a journalist... He says he sent it to say he must publish...”
Advocate Baloyi SC suggests that Lt-Gen Shibiri has a problematic relationship with Mr Matlala, and that Shibiri's interest in Mr Khawula is because Mr Khawula is causing problems for Shibiri's friend Mr Matlala.
“your particular interest in Mr Khawula, even as you share the media bits about him, it is because of the trouble that he is giving or threatening to your friend”
Lt-Gen Shibiri explains that the person using Khawula's name to extort was usually a journalist pretending to be an intermediary, not Khawula himself.
“The person who was wanted to extort was somebody using the name of Khawula... it was somebody who was acting as an intermediary, and pretending to be a journalist... whom Khawula gave information to publish, whom for him not to publish, he must get something and also Khawula to pay Khawula something.”
Advocate Baloyi SC challenges Shibiri that he did not know about Khawula's cybercrime, crimen injuria, or murder, and that he only saw media reports and forwarded them to Sergeant Nkosi because Khawula was a menace troubling Matlala.
“You did not know anything about the cybercrime thing that he has done wrong, I knew about the crimen injuria, I knew about the murder. You have testified that you knew nothing about it, you just saw it in the newspaper, and you just forwarded it... because he is a menace, and that is why I was sending this to Nkosi.”