The Yellow Jersey truck

What it is

A long-haul truck operated by Yellow Jersey Logistics that carried roughly 715kg of cocaine (valued at about R286 million, reported up to R300 million) concealed inside a legitimate cargo of Scania truck parts shipped from Brazil. The consignment reached Durban harbour around 11 June 2021 and travelled the N3 to Johannesburg, where it was intercepted in July 2021 - first while parked at the Yellow Jersey Logistics premises, then at the Scania warehouse in Aeroton. Gauteng traffic chief Samuel Mashaba, tipped off by businessman Tumelo Nku - whose cellphone was tracked along the same N3 route as the drugs - went to the Yellow Jersey premises and then Scania, searched the truck, and the cocaine 'fell from the truck'.

Why it matters

The truck is the physical starting point of the Aeroton bust: the object that ties the Durban port, the N3 tracking, Nku's tip-off and Mashaba's disputed conduct into a single chain. Yellow Jersey staff reportedly told Mashaba's team they 'did not look genuine', the truck owner refused consent to search, and the commission has heard that Mashaba allegedly posed as a Crime Intelligence officer. What began as a drug seizure became the commission's case study in a 'bungled' bust - rival units clashed at the scene, exhibits were mishandled, the case against those arrested was withdrawn, and part of the haul later went missing. These are untested allegations; everyone named is presumed innocent.