Saps officer accuses cops of burning down his home, destroying evidence to conceal crime

Public Order Police (POPs) members at the Tshwane Police Training Academy on 15 June 2024. Picture: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu A suspended South African Police Service (Saps) sergeant has alleged that members of law enforcement set fire to his house while investigating the 2024 kidnapping of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) businessman Zakariyya Desai. Samkeliso Honest Mlotshwa made the claims while testifying before Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating corruption and political interference in the justice system on Friday, 13 March 2026.

Mlotshwa was arrested in Mozambique on 23 November 2024 in connection with the disappearance of Desai, who had been abducted in September of that year. He was returned to South Africa days later, on 28 November, and was charged together with Mozambican nationals Esmael Maulide Ramos Nangy and Stefane Pereira Da Costa Brites. The three were charged with kidnapping, extortion and attempted murder.

However, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) withdrew the charges against them in January 2025. Mlotshwa told the committee that his house in Matshulu, Mpumalanga, was set alight on 20 November 2024 while he was in Maputo attending to matters related to his funeral parlour business. “The house was badly damaged,” he told the committee.

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A caretaker reported the fire to the Matshulu police station the following day, and officers were dispatched to the scene at around 1:20pm. However, when they arrived, they allegedly found officers from KZN Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, already at the property.

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