By Anita Dangazele
- Major General Feroz Khan, deputy head of SAPS Crime Intelligence, was shot in his lower body in Houghton on Sunday night and rushed to Netcare Milpark Hospital.
- Khan was due to testify at the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday after dropping his court bid to block investigators from accessing his seized electronic devices.
Major General Feroz Khan was shot outside his home in Houghton on Sunday night. Two days later, he was supposed to be sitting before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
Two unidentified gunmen in a white Mercedes-Benz opened fire on Khan and fled the scene. He was shot in his lower body. Investigators recovered at least two spent bullet casings at the scene. Khan was rushed to Netcare Milpark Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.
The shooting comes at a critical point in the commission’s work. Khan, deputy head of SAPS Crime Intelligence and head of counter-intelligence, was confirmed to testify on Tuesday after abandoning a secret court application to stop the commission from reading his seized electronic devices.
That legal fight failed. Commission investigators extracted data from a bitlock-encrypted hard drive seized from Khan’s Houghton home in May. What they found was damaging. WhatsApp messages on the devices showed Khan passing confidential police information to EFF leader Julius Malema, alleged links to a R92-million Covid-19 procurement fraud scheme, and communications with Carnilinx co-founder Mohamed Sayed, a tobacco executive whose company has faced sustained allegations of tax evasion and money laundering.
Khan was to face questioning on all of it on Tuesday.
Police confirmed the incident and launched an investigation. The Political Killings Task Team has been brought in at the direction of the Acting National Commissioner.
Spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe warned against drawing conclusions about the motive.
“It is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any possible motive or to conclude that the incident is linked to his anticipated appearance before the commission,” she said.
The Madlanga Commission had not commented on whether Tuesday’s testimony would proceed at the time of publication.
This is a developing story.
Pictured above: Major General Feroz Khan, deputy head of SAPS Crime Intelligence, was shot in Houghton on Sunday night, two days before his scheduled appearance at the Madlanga Commission.
Image source: File
