The question of whether South Africa’s army was behind the murder of senior police detective Frans Mathipa is at the centre of a case that has shaken one of Africa’s most robust democracies.
Mathipa, a respected officer in the Hawks, was shot dead in August 2023 after pursuing evidence linking the country’s special forces to the abduction and killing of an alleged Islamic State (IS) militant. The investigation centred on an Ethiopian man called Abdella Abadigga, an alleged so-called IS militant.
He had been granted temporary asylum in South Africa in 2008 but was arrested abroad in 2017.
Abadigga had then been smuggled back into the country by the South African military and Department of Home Affairs to be used as an intelligence asset – but had “gone rogue”, according to sources quoted by the BBC.
Seven members of the army’s special forces and one military police officer have since been charged with his murder although they deny the allegations.
According to the BBC, court documents and police files reviewed by prosecutors suggest vehicles tied to a front company for special forces trailed Mathipa before his death.
One of the suspects, Major Sunnybooi Wambi, was also identified at the scene of the alleged abduction Mathipa had been investigating.
The case has raised fears of military overreach, with police sources citing threats from special forces who, according to the BBC investigation, issued a chilling warning to the police that “however many investigating officers are assigned… we will kill all of them.”
Despite arrests, several suspects remain free, still serving in the army and no trial date has been set.
The killing has drawn attention to the opaque role of South Africa’s military in domestic operations, including its alleged involvement in the smuggling and later abduction of Abadigga whom the United States had sanctioned as an Islamic State recruiter.
The army and Department of Home Affairs have declined to respond to questions about their role in Abadigga’s return and disappearance.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has also refused to comment.
JN/APA