Evidence points to South African special forces in murder of top detective
The BBC has obtained documents suggesting South African special forces killed police detective Frans Mathipa in 2023 while he investigated an alleged abduction linked to the military. Eight people have been charged, but the trial is at risk as several suspects remain on active duty and are defying a court order to surrender.
The BBC World Service has gained exclusive access to prosecution documents concerning the 2023 murder of Lt Col Frans Mathipa, a respected detective with South Africa's elite police unit known as the Hawks. Seven special forces members and one military police officer face murder charges, which they deny.
Mathipa was shot dead in his car on a highway near Pretoria after a planned meeting with a man who claimed to have information for his investigation failed to materialise. Days earlier, he had reportedly told his commanding officer he feared he would be killed.
Background to the case
Mathipa was investigating claims that special forces abducted and killed Ethiopian national Abdella Abadigga in December 2022. Abadigga had earlier been sanctioned by the United States as an alleged Islamic State recruiter and financier. Court documents show his phone connected to a location near Somalia after his disappearance, and a senior IS figure in Somalia was killed by US forces only weeks later.
CCTV footage from a Johannesburg-area shopping mall showed vehicles at the scene of Abadigga's disappearance registered to a company acting as a front for special forces. When Abadigga's brother pursued the case in court, the military confirmed its personnel had been present but claimed it was a training exercise.
Threats against investigators
Documents show the vehicle that tailed Mathipa before his death was registered to the same front company, and one of its occupants was the officer identified from the mall footage. After Mathipa's murder, police say special forces sent a warning threatening to kill any future investigators assigned to the case.
In total, 12 military personnel have been arrested, including the current head of special forces; several have been promoted since the investigation began. Three suspects have had bail revoked but are refusing to surrender, raising concerns the trial may never proceed. South Africa's army and government did not respond to the BBC's questions.
