Witness
Suspended officer, K9 unit, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department · Johannesburg
Named in evidence · suspended
The Johannesburg metro police officer this commission has now heard about in two unrelated matters four years apart, neither of which he has answered in public. The first is the arrest of murder-accused businessman Katiso 'KT' Molefe at his Sandhurst home. The allegation before the commission, reported by IOL and eNCA, is that Mokgatle booked off sick that day, nonetheless travelled to Molefe's residence in an official JMPD vehicle while off duty, confronted the officers at the scene and attempted to disrupt the arrest, and later attempted to interfere with investigators. He was suspended from the K9 unit and the JMPD instituted disciplinary charges. The second surfaced on Day 173, 15 September 2026, when Sergeant Rico van Wyk of the same K9 unit played the commission CCTV footage of the abduction of a child in Johannesburg in 2021, over which R5 million was allegedly extorted from the child's father, and told the panel: 'Upon viewing the video, I identified two of the individuals depicted therein as Officers Johannes Mokgatle and Zwelibanzi Mgujulwa, both of whom were assigned to my shift.' Van Wyk said he put the footage to both men, that neither denied being in it, and that neither explained it. Some outlets render the surname Makgatle; Eyewitness News, which covered both days of evidence, uses Mokgatle, and that is the spelling the archive carries. Nothing here is a finding. Mokgatle has not testified before this commission, has answered none of it on the public record, and is presumed innocent.
This profile summarises testimony and evidence given on the public record before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. It restates allegations as presented at the hearings and is not a finding of guilt, liability, or wrongdoing by any person.
Their role
Per IOL and eNCA, the allegation before the commission is that Mokgatle called in sick on the day police raided Katiso 'KT' Molefe's Sandhurst home, and then used an official JMPD vehicle while off duty to travel to the residence. A version of the sick-leave allegation was put to the commission by the anonymous Witness B in October 2025. Mokgatle has not given his own account of it to the commission. Untested; he is presumed innocent.
The further allegation, per IOL and eNCA, is that Mokgatle confronted the police officers at the scene and attempted to disrupt Molefe's arrest, and that he subsequently attempted to interfere with investigators. The JMPD suspended him from the K9 unit and instituted disciplinary charges. A disciplinary charge is an allegation, not a finding; the outcome has not been reported.
On Day 173, 15 September 2026, Sergeant Rico van Wyk of the JMPD K9 unit played the commission CCTV footage of the kidnapping of a child in Johannesburg in 2021, over which R5 million was allegedly collected from the child's father by other suspects. Per Eyewitness News, van Wyk said he identified Mokgatle and Officer Zwelibanzi Mgujulwa in the footage, that both were assigned to his shift, that he questioned them and asked whether it had been a police operation, and that neither denied being depicted while neither offered any explanation. Identification from video is contestable evidence and silence to a colleague is not an admission. No charge arising from this has been reported and Mokgatle is presumed innocent.
Timeline
The kidnapping of a child in Johannesburg that Sergeant Rico van Wyk later played to the commission, and in which he says he recognised Mokgatle.
Witness B tells the Madlanga Commission that a JMPD officer lied about sick leave in connection with the Molefe arrest operation.
Day 173. Sergeant Rico van Wyk identifies Mokgatle in CCTV of the 2021 abduction and tells the commission he neither denied being in the video nor explained it.
Connections
Officer, K9 unit, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department
Van Wyk, a sergeant on the same JMPD K9 shift, told the commission on 15 September 2026 that he recognised Mokgatle in CCTV of a 2021 abduction and that Mokgatle neither denied it nor explained it. Untested; Mokgatle is presumed innocent.
View profile →Named alongside him in the same footageOfficer, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department
Both officers were assigned to Sergeant Rico van Wyk's shift and both were named by him on Day 173 as men he identified in the 2021 CCTV footage. Neither has answered it publicly and both are presumed innocent.
View profile →The arrest he is alleged to have disruptedBusinessman; named in testimony as an alleged Big Five figure
The allegation before the commission is that Mokgatle booked off sick, travelled to Molefe's Sandhurst home in an official vehicle, and tried to disrupt the arrest. Molefe has never given evidence to this commission and Mokgatle has not answered the allegation; both are presumed innocent.
View profile →The internal affairs head who opened the same strandHead of internal affairs, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department
De Beer gave evidence on the morning of Day 173 describing an alleged interception scheme inside the JMPD; the Mokgatle allegations were led in the afternoon of the same sitting. She did not name him in the reported portions of her evidence.
View profile →Sources