Hawks boss Senona to face Madlanga commission over Port Shepstone cocaine theft

TheMadlanga commissionis set to focus on the Port Shepstone drug bust and the subsequent disappearance of seized narcotics, with KwaZulu-NatalHawkshead Major GeneralLesetja Senonascheduled to testify on 5 June. The case stems from a June 2021 drug bust in Durban in which 541kg of cocaine, with a street value of about R200 million, was seized. The cocaine later disappeared from a walk-in safe at the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime offices in Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal.

Evidence presented before the commission has suggested that the theft had been an inside job rather than the result of a security lapse. Evidence leader Mahlape Sello told the commission that Senona had initially been subpoenaed to appear on 18 May. After discussions between evidence leaders and Senona’s legal representatives, his testimony had been postponed.

“In preparing for this week and the witnesses we have, we prepared a schedule. And the result of that schedule is that General Senona is anticipated to take the stand only on 5 June. But because he is under subpoena and the order of the Chair to be present today, he has availed himself.

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He appears under our request that you stand him down until 5 June,” Sello said. The commission has heard that Senona had personally recommended moving the cocaine from the Port Shepstone office. At least two witnesses have linked him to serious security failures at the facility, which allegedly lacked basic alarm systems and CCTV surveillance.

During his first appearance in January, Senona said KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had forcibly removed him from his office. Mkhwanazi responded at the commission and said Senona had breached security protocols afterentering the office with an unknown person after hours on a weekend. Mkwanazi said security personnel had stopped him as he attempted to leave with sensitive state documents and a government-issued laptop.

The commission also heard testimony from Warrant Officer Karl Sander, who served under Senona’s command structure and was appointed to KwaZulu-Natal Hawks provincial support services, where he was responsible for overseeing the weapons armoury. Sander told the commission he was made a suspect in the Port Sheptstone matter even though he had not been at the scene. Sanders said he had never been at the Port Shepstone office and had been involved only in several major narcotics investigations, among them:

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