Former Hawks Boss Grilled Over R200m Cocaine Allegations

South Africa · Madlanga Commission of Inquiry

Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, Pretoria  |  September 1–2, 2026

Former national Hawks head Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya spent a second week facing intense questioning at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, as commissioners and the commission's evidence leader pressed him on why the unsolved 2021 theft of a R200-million cocaine consignment from a Hawks facility in KwaZulu-Natal was never properly investigated internally — and why the officer who held the keys to that facility, suspended Major-General Lesetja Senona, was never subjected to a polygraph test or disciplinary action.

The theft at the centre of it all

The saga traces back to June 2021, when 541 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of about R200 million was seized from a shipping container at Durban harbour. Rather than being placed in a police station evidence room or sent directly to a forensic laboratory, as standard procedure would require, the drugs were moved to a Hawks office in Port Shepstone. Five months later, in November 2021, the consignment was stolen. No arrests have been made in the nearly five years since.

Evidence before the commission has painted a damning picture of the facility's security. CCTV cameras and alarms at the Port Shepstone office were malfunctioning at the time of the theft, there was no 24-hour security presence, and testimony from a retired Hawks officer, Jakobus Prinsloo, revealed that a security company had stopped servicing the building's alarm system after a modest R593.56 monthly contract went unpaid. Major-General Hendrik Flynn, who heads the Hawks' Serious Organised Crime Investigation component, testified that the building had in fact been broken into seven times before the cocaine theft — making the drug heist the eighth break-in at the same unprotected premises. Flynn added that the cocaine would have been safer stored at virtually any staffed police station.

Two conflicting accounts

At the heart of Lebeya's grilling this week was a direct contradiction between his testimony and that of Senona, the suspended KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss who was removed from his post earlier this year — reportedly escorted from his office at gunpoint during his suspension. Senona has told the commission that he personally informed Lebeya about the decision to store the drugs at the Port Shepstone facility. Lebeya, in contrast, has consistently maintained he only learned where the cocaine was being kept after it had already been stolen.

"Because it's either that General Senona is lying, or you're lying, or you're both mistaken about what transpired," evidence leader advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube put to Lebeya directly. Lebeya declined to accuse his former colleague of dishonesty, responding: "I can't recall him informing me as to where he has stored the drugs. So that is the view that I had, that he did not inform me."

Why wasn't Senona polygraphed?

Perhaps the sharpest line of questioning concerned Lebeya's decision not to subject Senona to a polygraph test in the aftermath of the theft, even as he approved polygraph examinations for roughly 40 other Hawks employees — a list that reportedly extended even to a cleaner at the offices, while excluding the officer who held the keys to the facility where the drugs disappeared. Commissioners pressed Lebeya on the apparent inconsistency, distinguishing between the ongoing criminal investigation into who physically stole the drugs and the separate internal accountability question of who was responsible for how the exhibits were handled and stored in the first place.

Commissioners put it to Lebeya that, given his extensive investigative experience, his failure to subject Senona to the same scrutiny as dozens of lower-level officials left essentially two possible explanations for his conduct — a framing one commission-adjacent report characterized as centering on whether Lebeya was "covering up or defending" his former subordinate.

Lebeya struggled to offer a clear explanation for the omission. He told the commission he had initiated both a fact-finding inquiry and a criminal investigation after learning of the theft, but conceded he could not adequately account for why Senona — described in testimony as "the custodian of the keys" and therefore an obvious person of interest — escaped the same internal scrutiny applied to far more junior staff.

Allegations of management links to the theft

The commission has also heard more explosive claims suggesting the theft may not have been a simple break-in. A witness identified as Sander, who had worked in the KwaZulu-Natal narcotics unit for decades before being moved by Senona in February 2024, told the commission that the suspects behind the robbery were known to police and that their links to Hawks management were also known, though he stopped short of naming names on the record. Sander said he believed he had been sidelined for having disrupted criminal drug operations, though he offered no other explanation for his transfer. Polygraph testing conducted as part of the internal investigation produced contradictory results for Sander himself — one report found he had lied, while a second report on the same test recorded no definitive finding.

Case timeline at a glance

Date	Event
June 2021	541kg of cocaine (≈R200m) seized at Durban harbour, moved to Port Shepstone Hawks office
November 2021	Cocaine stolen from the Port Shepstone facility; eighth break-in at the building
February 2024	Witness "Sander" reassigned out of KZN narcotics unit by Senona
May 2026	Retired officer testifies security contract had lapsed before the theft
June 2026	Senona testifies, distances himself from wrongdoing; alleges management links to suspects raised
Sept 1–2, 2026	Lebeya faces renewed, intensified questioning over conflicting testimony and lack of internal scrutiny
Arrests to date	None

What the Madlanga Commission is investigating

The Port Shepstone cocaine theft is one thread within the broader Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, which is examining allegations that a drug cartel has infiltrated South Africa's criminal justice sector, politics and private security industry. The commission's proceedings have also touched on Senona's alleged dealings with organised-crime accused Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala, who faces various criminal charges including alleged membership of the cartel said to have penetrated the state. Lebeya's testimony was expected to continue as the commission works through the unresolved questions surrounding both the theft itself and the apparent absence of meaningful accountability in its aftermath.

Sources

• SABC News — "Former Hawks boss Godfrey Lebeya grilled over R200m cocaine"
• African News Agency — "'Either Senona is lying or you are': Lebeya grilled over R200m cocaine"
• MDN TV Live — "'Covering Up or Defending Senona?' Madlanga Commission Grills Former Hawks Boss Godfrey Lebeya"
• TimesLIVE — "Why Senona skipped polygraph test after R200m cocaine theft at Hawks office"
• Eyewitness News — "Lebeya's failure to launch probe into 2021 Port Shepstone Hawks cocaine theft spotlighted"
• Sowetan — "Madlanga inquiry quizzes Lt-Gen on R200m cocaine stolen from Hawks office"
• Daily Maverick — "R200m cocaine theft and coffee machine scandal — Suspended KZN Hawks boss Senona's version"
• Daily Maverick — "'Embarrassing' R200m cocaine theft was eighth break-in at Hawks building, cop tells commission"
• Daily Maverick — "Cops let security contract lapse before R200m cocaine heist at Hawks building"
• TimesLIVE — "Hawks management 'linked' to R200m cocaine heist suspects, Madlanga commission hears"

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