FATAL MISTAKE; GEN LEBEYA SLIP OF TONGUE JUST EXPOSED HIS CRIMINAL LINKS WITH SENONA
High-Stakes Showdown At Commission As Senior Police Commander Faces Intense Cross-Examination Over Secret Meetings And Stolen Drugs
General Abea took the witness stand before the commission of inquiry, facing a grueling and high-stakes cross-examination regarding explosive allegations that he instructed senior police leadership to conduct private meetings with the controversial figure Timmy Marimutu.
The intense legal proceeding began with General Abea supported by his legal team, which included instructing attorney Lucky Tech from his law firm, who joined the legal table to assist in navigating the high-pressure questioning.
Evidence leaders immediately raised critical testimony delivered by Colonel Governor, who stated under oath that General Kana and Major General Governor were explicitly ordered by General Abea to go and see Timmy Marimutu, an individual publicly linked to severe criminal allegations, including human trafficking.
Addressing the commission directly, General Abea denied having a close personal relationship with Timmy Marimutu, explaining under oath that the name first came to his attention on December 30, 2010.
General Abea detailed how he had been assigned to investigate widespread irregularities within Crime Intelligence involving 290 unauthorized appointments made out of a listed 250 advertised posts.
According to General Abea, four specific names were put forward for approval on December 30, 2010, to take effect on January 1, 2011, prompting General Abea to intervene alongside the deputy national commissioner responsible for support to halt the appointments.
Despite that administrative intervention, General Abea testified that the blocked individuals successfully secured their appointments between January 16, 2011, and January 23, 2011, noting that the spouse of Timmy Marimutu was among those placed into Crime Intelligence.
General Abea stated that Timmy Marimutu began placing repeated telephone calls to him whenever General Abea traveled to KwaZulu-Natal, claiming he wanted to pass along information to the police.
Rather than meeting Timmy Marimutu in person, General Abea testified that he deliberately maintained a physical distance and instead ordered subordinate officers to meet the individual directly to collect any information he claimed to possess regarding an ongoing kidnapping investigation.
Commissioners aggressively pressed General Abea on whether the information provided by Timmy Marimutu actually led to the rescue of the kidnapping victim in Mpumalanga after 60 days of captivity, to which General Abea admitted he could not confirm that the recovery was solely based on that input.
When questioned about the status of the spouse of Timmy Marimutu within Crime Intelligence, General Abea testified under oath that he was completely unaware of her subsequent dismissal under General Kumalo.
General Abea further maintained under oath that during his tenure as head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, no active organized crime investigations targeting Timmy Marimutu were ever brought to his personal attention, noting that his office directly prioritized only the top 100 cases out of more than 20,000 files.
The cross-examination then shifted dramatically to the massive security breach and drug theft that occurred at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation offices in Port Shepstone.
Commissioners grilled General Abea on why seized narcotics were stored at a unit level that lacked adequate physical security and functional alarm systems.
General Abea responded that national security vulnerabilities existed across multiple offices, but insisted he was unaware of any specific technical breaches or broken alarm systems regarding the walk-in strong room prior to the heist.
The witness testified that he was first notified of the incident when an officer reported that the strong room door at the Port Shepstone facility had been physically cut open with an angle grinder and the stored narcotics stolen.
The panel scrutinised a document dated November 23, in which General Sona requested formal authorization from General Abea to conduct polygraph tests on all members of the Durban and Port Shepstone units.
Commissioners pointed out the glaring conflict that General Sona had personal possession of the keys to the safe where the drugs were stored, yet General Sona submitted a request to polygraph his entire staff while excluding himself and Brigadier Newsw.
General Abea testified that at the time he approved the polygraph request, he was entirely blind to the fact that General Sona was the custodian of the safe keys, assuming instead that General Sona was merely executing standard internal human resource and administrative procedures.
The inquiry also examined sensitive evidentiary materials, including packaged PowerPoint slides of WhatsApp communications from the December 6, 2024, law enforcement operation.
Legal representatives confirmed a mutual agreement to restrict a specific WhatsApp message from public broadcast and to handle sensitive individual details strictly behind closed doors in camera, alongside four top-secret confidential documents.
The session concluded with intense legal arguments regarding General Kana, who faced potential independent medical examinations to determine his fitness to participate in proceedings.
Legal counsel representing General Kana raised concerns over what they described as a potential white coat effect, arguing that an examination by a third-party medical expert might trigger a rapid worsening of the current health condition of General Kana.
Copyright: Daily Updates ZA
