DNA Evidence Exposes Police Links to Brakpan Murder Cover-Up

DNA evidence linking a police informant to the bedroom where Brakpan resident Emmanuel Mbense was tortured and killed took center stage Tuesday at the Brakpan Magistrates’ Court, as a bail hearing for six accused laid bare the disturbing details of an alleged cover-up involving law enforcement officers and private security personnel.

IPID senior investigator Nomsa Masuku testified that Wiandre Pretorius, 41, a police informant who had become a person of interest in the investigation, died by suicide on February 7, 2026, at a petrol station in Brakpan. Investigators believe he had viewed a DNA report placing him at the scene of Mbense’s killing before taking his own life. Masuku told the court that IPID investigators were informed Pretorius had seen the document, and that this may have been one of the reasons he killed himself.

The case traces back to April 2022, when Mbense was allegedly tortured for approximately five hours at his Brakpan home before being killed. His body was then dumped in Spaarwater Dam near Nigel. State prosecutor Nceba Ntelwa told the court that civilian accused Cobus Janse van Rensburg had informed co-accused that Mbense owned one of two trucks allegedly used in a warehouse robbery on April 14, 2022, in which robbers used two trucks and a bakkie to remove a large quantity of copper.

Masuku explained that DNA samples recovered from the bedroom where Mbense was killed were compared with buccal samples taken from suspects. The DNA report allegedly matched a sample from Pretorius. Physical evidence recovered from inside the house also placed him at the scene, and Masuku said that evidence was further supported by material in another witness’s docket, making it difficult for Pretorius to challenge the findings.

Pretorius had first come to Masuku’s attention at crime scenes involving shootings between suspects and SAPS members. He was widely regarded by other officers as a police officer, though he wore no uniform. Masuku said her first direct interaction with him came when he was summoned to her office to provide a statement in a separate matter, at which point she realized he held no official police status.

Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding Mbense’s death had already drawn public scrutiny at the Madlanga Commission. Marius van der Merwe, a security company owner who testified before the commission as Witness D, alleged that Mbense had been tortured before his death and that he was later instructed to help dispose of the body. Van der Merwe further alleged that suspended EMPD deputy chief Brigadier Julius Mkhwanazi was called to the scene after Mbense was killed and directed those present to dispose of the body at a mine dump or in a river. He named Pretorius as one of the people allegedly present at Mbense’s home when SAPS, EMPD and private security officers allegedly robbed, tortured and killed him.

Van der Merwe gave that evidence before the Madlanga Commission on November 13, 2025. On December 5, 2025, he was shot dead outside his Brakpan home, weeks after appearing before the commission. Masuku told the court that Pretorius was the first person of interest questioned by SAPS after Van der Merwe’s murder, and that IPID was also investigating Pretorius in connection with that killing.

Days before his own death, Pretorius survived an apparent assassination attempt outside his home in Boksburg. When he died on February 7, 2026, IPID investigators attended the scene after being informed he had shot himself. Although the death was formally an SAPS matter, IPID attended because Pretorius remained a suspect in the Mbense investigation.

Masuku alleged that Pretorius obtained a copy of the DNA report through former SAPS officer Juan-Maree Eksteen, now accused number six in the Mbense case. Eksteen had access to the case docket because a copy had been submitted to SAPS, a consequence of her partner being a charged SAPS member. That access, Masuku testified, made it possible for Pretorius to obtain the information.

The six accused before the court are Mkhwanazi, former EMPD officer Keisha-Leigh Stols, EMPD officer Adrian Mackenzie, SAPS officer Bhekokwakhe Sibande, Janse van Rensburg and Eksteen. The state has classified the matter as a Schedule 6 offence and is opposing bail for all six, meaning each must demonstrate exceptional circumstances to secure release. Masuku confirmed that IPID has completed its investigation into Mbense’s death and submitted its full recommendation and case docket to both SAPS and EMPD, given that members of both services, as well as private security personnel, are implicated. The National Prosecuting Authority has not yet made a final decision on the case. Whether any of the six will be granted bail remains to be determined when the application resumes on August 20.