Four Dead So Far in the Wake of the Madlanga Commission’s EMPD Probe

The violent fallout from the Madlanga Commission has escalated, with another person linked to it dying over the weekend.

On Saturday night, Wiandre Pretorius, a former police reservist implicated before the Commission, died from a gunshot wound at a filling station in Brakpan in what police have provisionally described as a suicide. An inquest docket has been opened. His death comes days after he reported an apparent attempt on his life and as prosecutors prepare decisions in a long-running murder investigation that has already claimed several lives.

As covered by The Common Sense in its earlier reporting on alleged rogue elements within the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), Pretorius had been implicated in the 2022 murder of Emmanuel Mbense, an alleged truck hijacker.

National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe has confirmed that Pretorius was the first person of interest in the murder of Marius van der Merwe, known publicly as Witness D. Van der Merwe was shot dead in December, shortly after giving evidence before the Madlanga Commission, where he implicated a number of individuals in unlawful EMPD-linked operations. Pretorius was among those he named.

The pattern is increasingly clear. Of the twelve individuals linked to the 2022 murder of Mbense, four are now dead. Three, including Van der Merwe, were killed in what sources describe as assassination-style shootings. Pretorius is the fourth. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has confirmed that its investigation into the Mbense case has been finalised and that the docket is now with the National Prosecuting Authority. Several arrests are expected within days.

Pretorius had reportedly been questioned by IPID in recent weeks. After gunmen fired at least sixteen shots at his vehicle outside his Boksburg home last week, his phone and firearms were seized. He was not injured in that incident, which remains under investigation. Sources say a breakthrough in the murder of Van der Merwe is also imminent.

CCTV footage from the Brakpan filling station where Pretorius died has raised further questions. Pretorius is seen holding a firearm and appearing highly agitated. Standing nearby is his partner, Juan-Mare Eksteen, a serving sergeant in the South African Police Service, who is seen watching as Pretorius gestures in an agitated fashion prior to putting his firearm to his head and firing the fatal shot. At no point in the short clip does she appear to attempt to stop him. Eksteen was also named at the Madlanga Commission in relation to the Mbense incident and is among those implicated in the broader network under investigation.

The footage has drawn scrutiny because, as a trained police officer, Eksteen would ordinarily be expected to intervene where possible in a life-threatening situation. Police have not commented on her conduct.

Sources say Pretorius and Eksteen had been involved in a dispute at a bar earlier that evening. The precise nature of that dispute has not been officially confirmed.

What is now clear is that the Madlanga Commission has exposed a violent and unstable ecosystem around certain EMPD-linked cases. Witnesses and suspects are dying at a rate that is extraordinary for any investigation, particularly one involving sworn law-enforcement officers.

What is occurring within the EMPD is not an isolated case. Multiple warnings from civil and state institutions have suggested that the criminal capture of state levers of power, such as the police, is becoming increasingly common in South Africa.