PRETORIA - The Madlanga Commission on Tuesday turned its attention to WhatsApp messages belonging to the late notorious taxi boss Jothan “Mswazi” Msibi.
The messages, dating back to January 2023, revealed explosive conversations about how now-jailed SAPS sergeant Fannie Nkosi allegedly used his police credentials to lure private international companies into supplying high-tech surveillance and jamming technology to private buyers.
Evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson took the commission through conversations between Nkosi and alleged Big Five Cartel members Msibi, Steve Motsumi and Katiso Molefe.
Chaskalson said the four were involved in a commercial project selling high-tech surveillance, digital surveillance systems and jamming technology.
The devices can be used by police to track people or intercept communications.
He said the same method could potentially have been used to procure weapons for private buyers.
Here is what also emerged from the extracted WhatsApp messages:
- Plan to acquire a surveillance “grabber” from the Czech Republic. Nkosi, Msibi and Motsumi appeared to be involved in a plan to acquire high-tech surveillance grabbers from a Czech company, Invasys, saying that it would be used by SAPS.
- Nkosi signed a letter purporting to represent the police service. He also invited the company to South Africa to demonstrate the technology to private individuals. The Commission was shown correspondence relating to the proposed deal with the Czech company. Some of the documents contained official SAPS stamps.
- The demonstration took place in Centurion. A demonstration facilitated by an individual identified in the messages as "phone expert Sean Jacobs” was held at the Anew Hotel in Centurion on 10 February 2023. In the official communication with Invasys, Nkosi identified SAPS Pretoria as the entity that would receive the demonstration. Representatives of Invasys conducted the demo as arranged. The commission said it had not yet been able to trace Jacobs because there were no obvious details about him. It also remains unclear whether Invasys knew who it was actually dealing with.
- There was an apparent plan to sell the technology to the King of Eswatini. The messages suggested that Msibi, Nkosi, Motsumi and Molefe had discussed selling the grabber technology to the Eswatini King.
- A second deal involved a trip to Germany. Between 16 and 18 May 2023, Msibi and Motsumi travelled to Germany to consult with Themy Style to procure the high-tech devices. They presented themselves as representing the State. Four days after their return, on 23 May, they received a quotation for the monitoring systems. It is not clear what ultimately became of the quotation.