Africa-Press – South-Africa. Over the last four years, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, commonly known as the Hawks, has arrested more than 12 000 people, resulting in more than 4 400 convictions.
Hawks boss Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya revealed this during his first media briefing in four years in Tshwane on Tuesday.
Lebeya used the briefing to highlight the work the unit had done since his appointment four years ago, and noted the progress made in several high-profile cases as well as other Hawks successes.
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He explained that the directorate’s mandate included the investigation of cash-in-transit robberies, fuel theft from Transnet pipelines, as well as inchoate offences, such as conspiracy to commit a crime and incitement to commit a crime.
Statistics
At present, the Hawks are seized with 22 477 cases involving more than 500 000 charges and a monetary value of more than R1.5 trillion.
Lebeya said:
Lebeya added that over the last four financial years, 12 157 people the Hawks had arrested were brought before courts. In the same period, 4 447 convictions were secured.
“Let me hasten to mention that the convictions relate to individuals as the charges/counts are much higher.”
The general did not answer questions about how many of the cases involved withdrawals or acquittals.
Lebeya then spent the rest of his address citing numerous cases the Hawks have been working on, including some that have since been finalised.
Corruption
He said corruption was one of the biggest threats in South Africa.
“It also allows the flow of illegal funds, which is the reason that informs the directorate to monitor performance on money laundering charges initiated through criminal investigations,” Lebeya said.
“In strengthening the fight against corruption, the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) and Operational Committee have been revitalised in order to fast-track criminal investigation, prosecution and asset recovery.”
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He also said there were cases that were prioritised and monitored continuously.
As an example of a corruption case the Hawks investigated, Lebeya mentioned the case of former JB Marks mayor Moses Khumalo, 52, and municipality director, Cyril Hendry,54.
He said:
The matter has been postponed to 19 October for trial.
He also referenced the highly publicised VBS mutual bank scandal.
“Twenty-seven suspects have been arrested so far. A conviction has also been secured. This follows an intensive, prosecution aimed investigation by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation [team] into inappropriate administering of state funds into the Venda Mutual Bank by the municipalities.”
“More suspects are expected to be arrested during the course of the investigation as about 20 municipalities in Limpopo, North West and Gauteng lost nearly R1.6 billion after illegally investing with the bank. The investigators have gathered more than 2 391 statements.
The main case has been postponed to 3 October 2022 for trial.
Lebeya touched on the criminal cases involving Bosasa, former State Security Agency Bongani Bongo and the corruption case involving the alleged misappropriation of funds during preparations for the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela..
In addition, he mentioned other pending matters and successes in cases involving cash-in-transit heists, copper theft, human trafficking and drug trafficking.
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