High ranking Hawks and a former commander of the Anti-Gang Unit were among several top cops implicated in the murder of Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear.
This bombshell was dropped by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on Wednesday during which it announced the declassification of its ‘Top Secret’ Investigation Report into the suspects and their role in the AGU detective’s murder.
According to IPID, the officers were implicated either through their actions or inactions. An inaction by a police officer would be regarded as misconduct by the Saps Regulations.
While no names were mentioned at the briefing, the report which was leaked in 2022 has implicated General Major Andre Lincoln and Captain Robert van Aswegen of the Western Cape Anti Gang Unit among others.
Lincoln has been on the stand this week to testify in the Kinnear murder trial at the High Court.
Ipid executive director Dikeledi Jennifer Ntlatseng said action is being taken against the implicated officers although no arrest have been made yet.
Kinnear was a section commander in the Anti-Gang Unit and was murdered outside his Bishop Lavis home on 18 September 2020.
Questions were raised about why his protection unit had been withdrawn at the time.
IPID started the investigation in 2021 and classified the report the following year.
“..we had to protect sensitive information of witnesses and the information of the implicated officers at the time because they were not yet charged… the department also had to ensure that it protects itself from being exposed to unnecessary litigation,” Ntlatseng said.
“To date, IPID has made criminal referrals to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) for prosecutions and disciplinary recommendations against the implicated officers to Saps and the DPCI as employers.
“Saps has confirmed that they have initiated the disciplinary process of their officers identified in the report, as per the recommendations.”
Ipid said the declassification of the report was done on November 1 and it does not include any redacted information.
Of the nine officers implicated, seven were from Saps while two were from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI or Hawks), based at CATS (Crimes Against The State).