Operation Buyisa seize 226 firearms from a private security firm. Image: SAPS.
(The Post News) – South African Police Service (SAPS), Brigadier Mishak Mkhabela revealed that about 41,846 criminal cases are currently in the forensic pipeline, with many of them hinging on critical ballistic evidence due to lack of staff.
Mkhabela appeared before the Madlanga Commission on Monday. He painted the South African justice system to be under severe pressure and barely surviving due to shortage of staff members, minimal resources and an overflow in evidence storage facilities.
Mkhabela informed the Commission that, “We have repurposed a museum and even that is full.”. He said this in refence to the desperate measures taken to store seized firearms. Mkhabela further stated that, “In our strong safe, at any given point, I have more than 29,000 firearms each linked to a killing. We have only 42 analysts.”
According to Mkhabela, 41,846 cases were awaiting ballistic analysis, including 29,385 coming from the national office, with 10,643 still pending in 2025 alone.
A reflection of an intensifying backlog that is currently threatening the delivery of justice nationwide, the Western Cape accounts for 5,196 cases, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) for 3,710.
Firearm in Swart’s Murder linked to 20 and other killings
The firearm used in Armand Swart’s murder has been linked to various other crime activities across the country. Mkhabela informed the Commission that the same weapons recovered in the Bramley case were connected to 20 other murders and attempted murders through SAPS’s Police Integrated Ballistics Identification System.
The Commission was also informed of details of those that may have been leaked to suspects before completion of forensic analysis. Mkhabela declined commentary on the issue, whilst the officer accused is obligated to testify before the Commission this week.
Chief evidence leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson and Mkhabela had an engagement on the issue:
“You are right, this is an issue that we need to take up with Captain Mokotloe, but it does seem to me that the real significance of the timeline is that if indeed Captain Mokotloe said what the detectives say he told them when hey collected their report in May and June, then somebody with links to the organized crime networks must have conveyed that information directly or indirectly to Captain Mokotloe.”
The intensity and scale of this crisis was underscored by a diagram presentation made to the Commission, connecting firearms used in the murders of Oupa ‘”DJ Sumbody” Sefoka, Armand Swart and Hector “DJ Vintos” Buthelezi to over 20 other criminal cases which are all awaiting ballistic confirmation.
Mkhabela admitted before the Commission that the chronic staff insufficiency and outdated systems have placed investigation in compromised positions, leaving the families of victims in emotional and mental limbo with the potential of allowing dangerous offenders.
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