Former member, SAPS Special Task Force · Brakpan, Ekurhuleni
Charged with the murder of Witness D · bail refused · awaiting trial
Matipandile Sotheni, 42, a former member of the SAPS Special Task Force, is the one person charged over the assassination of Marius van der Merwe, the man who gave evidence to this commission on Day 33 as the protected witness Witness D and who was shot dead outside his Brakpan home on 5 December 2025. He has never testified before the commission and nothing on this page comes from its hearings; it is a record of a criminal prosecution that exists because of them. Per News24 and SAnews he was arrested on 15 March 2026 after a manhunt and first appeared in court on 16 March. Per IOL and The Citizen he faces 16 charges, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, ammunition offences and theft; SNL24 reported the count on 2 November 2026 as nine, up from seven, and this archive records the difference rather than choosing. He has been in custody since 1 June 2026, when Magistrate Tlakale Sathekge refused him bail at the Brakpan Magistrate's Court. The state alleges he conspired with Wiandre Pretorius, a man van der Merwe had named in his own evidence and who died on 7 February 2026. What has kept the case in a magistrate's court is forensic: per IOL and Mail and Guardian, three cellphones were found on a catwalk behind his cell at Kgosi Mampuru II, one of them allegedly linked to him, and analysts are still mapping his records against tracking data from the vehicle allegedly used. He was back in court on 2 November 2026. He has denied the allegations, he has not pleaded, no court has convicted him of anything, and he is presumed innocent.
Matipandile SotheniWitness DMarius van der MerweSpecial Task ForceBrakpanMadlanga Commission
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.
Awaiting appearanceNo portrait on the public record yet
Their role
What the record says
The charges
Per IOL, The Citizen and SABC News, Sotheni faces 16 charges arising from the killing of Marius van der Merwe on 5 December 2025: murder, conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, ammunition-related offences and theft. SNL24 reported on 2 November 2026 that the count stood at nine after the state added two, and this archive records the conflict in the published numbers. The state alleges he conspired with the late Wiandre Pretorius. None of it has been tested at trial. He has not pleaded, he denies the allegations, and he is presumed innocent.
Bail refused, 1 June 2026
Per The Citizen and the Daily Maverick, Magistrate Tlakale Sathekge refused bail at the Brakpan Magistrate's Court, finding he had not shown exceptional circumstances and that the likelihood of evidence tampering and witness interference was established. Her reasons as reported: 'the state's case against the applicant is not weak', and 'some of the state witnesses are known to the applicant'. She pointed to his police and security training as giving him the means to act on that risk, and found that evidence had been tampered with and concealed, including that the murder weapon had been fired and its carrier and bolt swapped with those of another firearm. A bail ruling is a decision about custody pending trial, not a finding of guilt.
The cellphone found behind his cell
Per Mail and Guardian, IOL and The Citizen, investigators searched his cell at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre and found nothing inside it, but three cellphones were recovered from the catwalk behind it, one of which the state says was linked to him. Prosecutor Trott Mphahlele told the court that 'he was communicating with a certain person or persons' and that 'the analyst asked for more time'. Investigators are mapping his cellphone records against tracking data from the vehicle allegedly used in the murder, and are also examining the records of Pretorius and of Pretorius's partner, former SAPS sergeant Juan-Mare Eksteen. These are the state's assertions in a live prosecution; none has been tested.
A name on the commission's own Annexure C, unresolved
The affidavit the commission published in June 2026 lists seventeen individuals in Annexure C in connection with Major-General Feroz Khan's seized devices, and one of those names is rendered 'Matipandle Sotheni'. This archive has not established whether that refers to the same person as the accused on this page, and does not assert that it does. It is recorded here because the similarity is visible in the published record and a reader would otherwise join the two without warning. Everyone named in Annexure C is presumed innocent, and nothing in it has been tested.