Hearing record
Day 108
Witness: Lieutenant Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola
Hawks investigator Lieutenant-Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola, who took command of the chaotic Aeroton scene and arrested officers he says were stealing from the haul, tells the commission a senior officer phoned asking him to settle the bust 'amicably' - and names Major-Generals Feroz Khan and Ebrahim Kadwa as interfering from above.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- IOL reported that Sebola told the commission he took command of the July 2021 Aeroton scene and arrested SAPS members he says were caught trying to steal from the roughly R286 million cocaine seizure.
- Sebola testified that a senior officer telephoned and asked him to resolve the bust 'amicably' on the spot; he said he refused and escalated the matter rather than making it disappear.
- He accused Crime Intelligence deputy head Major-General Feroz Khan of disrupting the operation and orchestrating arrests, and named Gauteng Hawks head Major-General Ebrahim Kadwa as also interfering.
- Sebola said he was himself among four law-enforcement officers arrested at the scene for alleged drug dealing - arrests he frames as retaliation for doing his job, not evidence of guilt.
- His evidence reprised the weight discrepancy central to the Aeroton thread: about 715.86kg confiscated against 579.4kg recorded, leaving roughly 136.46kg unaccounted for.
- Sebola's account directly contradicts the picture of who was in lawful command at Aeroton, setting up a factual clash that Khan and Kadwa, both summoned, are yet to answer.
- The allegations against Khan and Kadwa are untested; neither has been convicted in connection with the bust and both retain the presumption of innocence.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
The officer who says he refused
IOL reported that Sebola presented himself as the investigator who tried to run Aeroton by the book - taking command, arresting officers allegedly looting the haul, and rebuffing a call to settle the matter quietly. His narrative flips the usual frame: the man later arrested casts himself as the one who resisted interference. It is a compelling account, but one the commission must still weigh against Khan's and Kadwa's yet-to-come evidence.
Naming the generals
IOL reported that Sebola named Major-General Feroz Khan and Major-General Ebrahim Kadwa as having interfered in the Aeroton investigation. He linked the collapse of a clean interdiction to pressure from senior ranks rather than to failures at the scene. The commission recorded these as allegations requiring the named officers' response, keeping the presumption of innocence intact.
Our analysis
The bottom line
Sebola is the most consequential Aeroton witness so far because, unlike Phakula, he did not concede lying and he offers a coherent alternative story: a legitimate bust deliberately unwound from above. If the commission finds him credible, the centre of gravity in the Aeroton scandal shifts from junior officers contaminating a scene to senior officers interfering with an investigation - a far more serious proposition.
That said, Sebola is also an accused man with an obvious interest in casting his own arrest as retaliation, and his most damaging claims target officers who have not yet testified. The 'amicably' phone call, if verified, would be striking evidence of an attempt to make the bust disappear, but it currently rests on his word. The fair reading of Day 108 is that the commission now has two irreconcilable accounts of who controlled Aeroton, and the truth turns on evidence - phone records, scene logs, the missing 136kg - that must be tested before anyone is judged.
Analysis is the archive’s own comment on the public proceedings, grounded in the record above. It weighs the evidence and the process; questions of individual guilt are for the courts and the commission to decide. Everyone named is presumed innocent.
On the record
Who testified this day
Follow the threads
Who Lieutenant Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola connects to
Warrant Officer Marumo Magane
Sebola arrested Magane at Aeroton; it was during that arrest that Magane handed him the phone with the caller asking him to resolve the bust 'amicably'.
View profile →Named in IPID's probeZelda Maphosho
Maphosho ran the IPID investigation whose complaint named Sebola among the accused officers; he told the commission its report ignored his forensic evidence.
View profile →Disputed who controlled the sceneMajor-General Feroz Khan
Sebola told the commission he, not Crime Intelligence's Maj-Gen Feroz Khan, was in command of the Aeroton scene, and that Khan's involvement was 'unusual' - testimony the summoned Khan is yet to answer.
View profile →Alleged interference callMajor-General Richard Shibiri
Sebola said a caller who named himself as Brigadier Shibiri asked him to resolve the bust 'amicably'; he refused and escalated it. Maj-Gen Richard Shibiri, later dismissed from SAPS over his Matlala ties, is the prominent officer of that surname before the commission.
View profile →Same investigationWitness I
Both Hawks officers gave evidence on the Aeroton cocaine bust and alleged senior-officer interference in how it was handled.
View profile →Same investigationSamuel Mashaba
Sebola's evidence matched a 'General Mashaba of Hawks' contact in Tumelo Nku's saved screenshots to Mashaba by cellphone number.
View profile →In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)
Sources
- IOL - Hawks Lieutenant-Colonel reveals police interference in drug bust investigation (14 May 2026) ↗
- IOL - LIVE: Hawks Lieutenant-Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola testifies on Aeroton drug bust (14 May 2026) ↗
- IOL - Top cops Khan and Kadwa accused of interfering in Aeroton's R300 million drug bust (8 June 2026) ↗