“We are prepared to share documents” —Hawks on Macufe’s appeal

Staff reporter

Bloemfontein – The Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) affectionately known as HAWKS has responded to a claim by state attorney in Macufe’s appeal papers.

This follows an article we published last week in which Sally Maila, representing MEC Limakatso Mahasa in the application for condonotation and reinstatement of the appeal pointed the fingers at the Hawks and Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA).

In her affidavit, Maila said the reasons her client filed papers late were due to documents being in possession of the Hawks as there is a criminal case and AGSA as both institutions were running their respective investigations.

According to the papers filed on the 10th of November 2023, in possession of this publication, Maila said she was furnished with details of Hawks officials in charge of the Macufe case on the 22nd of September 2023 but in all correspondence, nothing shows or indicates any effort to get documents from Hawks.

Warrant Officer Matoti from the Hawks said the matter is sub judice.

“You will appreciate that the matter is sub judice. Our responsibility is to allow the judicial process to unfold without interference lest we conduct a parallel court process”

The key question we asked was has the department ever called asking for copies and Matoti said:

“Without going into the details of the case (for reasons stated above), we are prepared to share documents provided the correct procedures are followed.

Seized documents are evidence and must thus be sealed to avoid tempering. A process to unseal and reseal must be followed. We invite any who wishes to access any seized document to exchange correspondence with us to start the process.”

Could it be that no attempt was made to unseal documents? Time will tell.

In conclusion, we asked if the Hawks would be willing to give evidence in court on their role in the delay and Matoti said:

“The Hawks espouse principles of Batho Pele and remain fully committed to the code of conduct of SAPS.

Our track record as a professional and disciplined Directorate which is dedicated to its constitutional mandate speaks for itself.

Again, we appeal that the court process is not hindered.”

Will DS Consortium subpoena the Hawks to court because processes were followed, on time then the appeal papers would have been filed on time.

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