Impempe

Lt. Col. Joseph Sebola.

Lieutenant-Colonel Nkoana Joseph Sebola

Hawks investigator — Madlanga Commission witness on the R286-million Aeroton cocaine bust, alleged Transnet leak and internal police collusion (8 June 2026)

Outcome

Active officer — testimony ongoing; Major-General Feroz Khan subpoenaed to answer related allegations on 1 July 2026; commission scrutinising forensic data gaps and analyst chain-of-custody

Role

Lieutenant-Colonel, South African Police Service / Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) — lead investigator on the July 2021 Aeroton cocaine interception

Sector

Law enforcement — narcotics, organised crime, cross-border cargo interdiction and forensic cellular analysis

Evidence Status

Live oral testimony before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry (8 June 2026); forensic cellular analysis of N3-corridor cell-tower pings linking Tumelo Nku’s device to the Durban–Johannesburg drug truck; SAPS arrest record of Sergeant Muana caught loading drug bricks into a police vehicle at the Aeroton warehouse scene; communication charts and digital network maps compiled by a forensic data analyst; WhatsApp text records with conceded gaps the data custodians could not recover

Commission Reference

Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System; SAPS / DPCI (Hawks) operational record on the 2021 Aeroton cocaine bust; Transnet internal information-security review

Summary

On 8 June 2026 Lt-Col Nkoana Joseph Sebola returned to the stand at the Madlanga Commission with forensic cell-phone analysis and operational detail on the July 2021 Aeroton cocaine scandal. He set out the anatomy of the bust: 715.86kg of cocaine (initially estimated up to 751kg), valued at roughly R286 million to R300 million, shipped from Brazil to Durban concealed inside Scania truck parts and trucked to a Scania warehouse in Aeroton, Johannesburg, where it was intercepted — with a strategic information leak inside Transnet allowing a suspected criminal network to track the consignment. Sebola then walked the commission through alleged police collusion: businessman Tumelo Nku, allegedly acting for drug cartels, tipped his handler — Gauteng Traffic Police Chief Samuel Mashaba — and the two allegedly orchestrated a ‘fake’ bust to seize and steal the shipment before the Hawks could secure it; SAPS Sergeant Muana was arrested at the scene loading drug bricks into his police vehicle, claiming he was moving them to another station while officers on scene believed he was fleeing with the cartel’s cargo; forensic cellular analysis showed Tumelo Nku’s mobile device pinging N3-highway cell towers, physically trailing the drug truck from Durban to Johannesburg. He gave highly critical evidence against Major-General Feroz Khan, stating that when Khan took operational control of the Aeroton warehouse he mishandled basic protocols and that his sudden interference and instructions to arrest specific on-scene officers stifled the Hawks’ probe and turned what should have been an ironclad prosecution into a failed one — Khan has been subpoenaed to appear before the commission on 1 July 2026. Under cross-examination by Advocate Adila Hassim SC and Tebogo Mosikili, Sebola admitted the communication charts and digital network maps were compiled by a forensic data analyst rather than himself, and the commission noted the analyst would need to be called directly to clarify missing elements and technical inconsistencies in the call logs. Justice Dikgang Madlanga pressed him on gaps in the WhatsApp text records; Sebola conceded he could not trace certain missing chat files from the data custodians, meaning the text messages on their own did not definitively tie the suspects to the Aeroton cargo. The field carries the operational detail, the alleged Transnet leak and police collusion, the allegations against Khan, and the conceded forensic gaps side by side — without verdict.

Sources