Lawyers for the family of Hillary Gardee, daughter of EFF deputy president Godrich Gardee, have written to President Cyril Ramaphosa to exercise executive authority to incorporate the allegations made by suspended Mpumalanga police commissioner Daphney Manamela into the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
The call follows Manamela’s explosive media briefing on Sunday, where she accused colleagues and national police commissioner Fannie Masemola of presiding over a captured policing system.
Allegations
She alleged that politicians and business figures manipulate investigations, move dockets illegally, and bribe officers.
Manamela further claimed police in Mpumalanga interfere in probes into political killings, illegal mining, extortion, and human trafficking.
Ramaphosa petitioned
In a letter to Ramaphosa, the lawyers petitioned the president to “exercise the requisite executive authority” to enable a “proper, comprehensive, and unhindered investigation of Manamela’s allegations.
“Of singular and acute concern are those allegations which directly implicate the integrity of investigations into politically related killings, corrupt senior officers, as well as the handling of the Gardee matter, which bears immediate and substantial relevance to our clients.
“During that said briefing, serious and far-reaching allegations were made concerning interference with investigations, obstruction of justice, and possible criminal conduct by senior members of the South African Police Service, specifically in relation to the murder of the late Hillary Gardee,” the letter read.
‘Deliberate attempts’
The Gardee family claims that there were deliberate attempts to “undermine, stall, or prematurely close the investigation docket despite incriminating evidence.”
On Tuesday, the Gardee family’s attorneys formally requested that the Commission summon Manamela to testify under oath and present her evidence, and summon other implicated individuals (Major General Dorah Xaba, Major General Botsotso Moukangwe, Colonel DJ Malope) to respond to the allegations.
They also requested the production of the full investigation docket and forensic reports related to the Gardee case.
Meanwhile, the Gardee family’s legal representatives have received confirmation from the Madlanga Commission following their formal written request to summon witnesses over alleged interference by Mpumalanga Saps in the investigation into the murder of Hillary Gardee.
Hillary
Hillary Gardee went missing on 29 April 2022 near the Nelspruit Plaza taxi rank, metres from the police station.
Her body was found on 3 May in a timber plantation outside Mbombela. Three suspects were arrested, but one, Rassie Nkune, remains at large.
Manamela alleged Nkune was aided by a top official to evade arrest.
In April 2023, charges against Nkune and three co‑accused were provisionally withdrawn after a key witness vanished.
