Senior police detective Frans Mathipa had been fighting for four months to gain access to a crucial piece of information in the case he was working on. Finally, he was told, it was going to come his way. But he feared his pursuit of it could cost him his life.
Two days later, his car was found overturned – he had been shot dead while driving. Now seven members of South Africa’s special forces, and one military police officer, have been charged with murdering Lt Col Mathipa, a highly respected officer, in August 2023. They deny the charges.
The BBC World Service has been given exclusive access to the prosecution case against all the men. The case has caused consternation in one of Africa’s most robust democracies, with fears the country’s military is significantly overreaching its mandate. We asked the South African army whether it was responsible for Mathipa’s killing.
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It did not respond. Several hundred pages of secret police and court documents, shared with the BBC, set out the evidence suggesting special forces killed Mathipa – who worked for an elite police unit known as “The Hawks”. We have also interviewed key sources in the police investigation – South Africa’s former head of counter-terrorism in The Hawks; Mathipa’s commanding officer; and Mathipa’s family – to build the most comprehensive public account of the events leading up to the detective’s death.
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