Came forward to admit her own role
She sought to testify in camera and acknowledged her part in the precious-stones case.
Witness K said she came forward to acknowledge her role in what happened and to give the commission information about 'the precious stone case'. The commission's chair, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, granted her application to testify in partial camera - her voice carried to the auditorium and her evidence unredacted, but her name withheld and her image not projected - after she said she feared for her safety, given that those involved in the crime, the broader law-enforcement environment she comes from, and the person who initiated it could otherwise identify her.
The informant tip and Mkhwanazi assembling a team
She passed on a tip about illegal stones; she says Mkhwanazi assembled a team to take them.
She testified that about six months earlier she had received information from an informer about illegal stones held by someone at a block of flats in Killarney. She said she told Julius Mkhwanazi, who asked her to put him in touch with the informer and said he would assemble a team to act on it. Under questioning by the evidence leaders and Commissioner Sesi Baloyi SC she accepted that the plan was not a lawful recovery but to steal the stones from their owner and hand them to the initiator. Untested allegation.
The staged search-and-seizure, 11 February 2023
EMPD officers allegedly took the stones under a falsified SAPS seizure form.
She said that on 11 February 2023 she met Mkhwanazi, EMPD officers Kershia-Leigh Stols and Aiden McKenzie and a civilian, Andy van der Walt, at a restaurant and shared the information, after which Stols, McKenzie and van der Walt went to the Killarney flat - some in EMPD VW Golfs - to get the stones. She testified that Stols handed the owner an SAPS seizure form to make it look like a lawful police seizure, and that the officers later handed her the seizure form and the stones. These are untested allegations; the officers named have not answered them before the commission.
R14.9m stones sold for R110,000; a R22,000 cut
The stones were allegedly sold far below value and the proceeds split.
Witness K testified that the stones, valued at about R14.9 million, were sold for only around R110,000, with each participant receiving roughly R22,000; only a small portion of the stones was later recovered. She also said her relationship with Mkhwanazi involved her supporting him financially and that he did not pay her back, until she reached a point where she could no longer assist him given her children and responsibilities. Untested allegations.
