Special forces on trial

Summary

Podcast Summary: Special Forces on Trial

Podcast: The Documentary Podcast (BBC World Service)
Episode Air Date: August 9, 2026
Hosted by: Dino Mattani
Co-Investigator: Yashil Panchia

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Overview

In this gripping investigative documentary, Dino Mattani and Yashil Panchia dive deep into the suspicious murder of South Africa's renowned detective, Lieutenant Colonel Franz Matiba. The episode uncovers a tangled web involving South Africa's special forces, accusations of state-backed assassination, connections to ISIS operatives, and the internal corruption that may be tearing the nation’s security apparatus apart. The podcast weaves together personal voices, official documents, and exclusive testimonies—shedding light on both the broader national crisis and the agonizing personal toll for Matiba’s family.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Death of Franz Matiba – Accident or Hit?

• Opening Scene/Discovery:
  • (01:41) Mattani and Panchia retrace Matiba’s final drive to the site where he crashed and died.
  • (02:32) Colonel Peter Beekman describes arriving at the scene and quickly realizing the initial accident report was false:

    "I see a bullet hole through the pillar... when we realized the murder scene it was a hit." [02:51]

2. Who Was Abdallah Abadiga?

• Background:
  • Abadiga, an Ethiopian refugee, alleged ISIS supporter with international ties, vanished in December 2022.
  • He was sanctioned by the US, accused of funding terror, recruiting, and organizing for ISIS.
  • Operated in Johannesburg’s Mayfair district, where his name struck fear:

    "The community is terrorized. They are all in fear of them. They take hostages." (Anonymous Source/Actor) [06:38]

3. The Disappearance and the CCTV Puzzle

• Breakthrough by Farhad Huma:
  • Huma, himself accused of terrorism but never convicted, assists the police and family in tracking Abadiga’s last movements at the Mall of Africa.
  • (09:24) Security footage reveals abduction:
    • Abadiga and his guard are tailed by a man in a blue top.
    • Three cars (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) linked to the kidnapping; license plates are visible.
  • "The whole puzzle fell in place as we investigated. When we got the car registration number, we tracked the number." (Farhad Huma) [11:18]

4. Special Forces Connection—A Shadowy Company

• Vehicle Traced:
  • Kidnappers’ vehicles registered to Peters Communications Trust, run by Special Forces officers.
• Military Response:
  • (13:39) Officers, including commanding officer Herbert Machego and Major Sonny Boy Wambi (the man in the blue top), are implicated.
  • Special Forces claim they were on a “training exercise” the day of the abduction [14:51].

5. Stonewalled Investigations and Matiba’s Subpoena

• Official Roadblocks:
  • (16:26) Brigadier Paulina Sekopello describes delayed and evasive responses from the military:

    "We could not get, like, a response or it was like sending from pillar to post..." [16:43]

  • Matiba applies for a subpoena to force cooperation.
• Matiba’s Chilling Prediction:
  • (17:20) Sekopello recalls:

    "When he leave my office, he said, Brigadier, Imo, is the brother going to kill me? I'm going to die."

6. The Intelligence Game: Corruption and Betrayal

• Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg’s Revelations:
  • South Africa’s retired head of counterterrorism, he exposes government duplicity and claims intelligence used Abadiga as an asset:

    "They smuggled him back into South Africa. It was frustrating to learn that... [officials were] openly facilitating the smuggling back of known ISIS terrorists." [20:18]

  • Suspects Abadiga’s eventual abduction was because he "went rogue" or became unmanageable.
  • Raises the possibility his phone was used to locate Bilal al Sudani—a senior ISIS figure later killed by US forces.
• On Matiba’s Murder:

  "He was barking up the right tree and the persons that gave the instructions was afraid of what he was going to open up..." [25:09]

7. The Day of the Assassination

• The Setup:
  • On the day of his murder, Matiba receives a mysterious call from an informant (25:41), is lured to a Pretoria car wash, and is killed by shooters believed to be tied to Special Forces.

    "Those people should get arrested so that their kids can feel the pain that I'm feeling. I'm never...can I hug my dad anymore?" (Basanana Matiba, daughter) [04:17, 29:05]

  • The BMW used in the killing is linked to the same Special Forces-run company; plates had been removed.

8. Legal Fallout and Ongoing Threats

• Special Forces on Trial:
  • Wambi, Machego, and 10 others eventually charged with murder and abduction.
  • Despite charges, several were promoted after arrest, and some fail to surrender for bail citing mental health [27:26].
  • Police investigation continues amid threats.

    "You can appoint 10 investigating officers. We will kill them all." [Police cite Special Forces message, 27:03]

9. Institutional Collapse and Family Trauma

• Reflections on Trust and Governance:
  • Frichtenberg laments:

    "Can we trust our government? Can you trust any people in the system for safeguarding us?" [28:54]

• Demand for Justice:

  "We need justice. We need justice." (Basanana Matiba) [04:17, 29:05]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• The Moment of Realization:

  • "I see a bullet hole through the pillar...when we realized the murder scene it was a hit."
    — Colonel Peter Beekman [02:51]

• On Internal Betrayal:

  • "They smuggled him back into South Africa...Openly facilitating the smuggling back of known ISIS terrorists."
    — Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg [20:18]

• Predicting his fate:

  • "Brigadier, Imo, is the brother going to kill me? I'm going to die."
    — Franz Matiba, as remembered by Brigadier Paulina Sekopello [17:20]

• Family’s Grief:

  • "I'm never...can I hug my dad anymore?"
    — Basasana Matiba [04:17]

• On State Corruption:

  • "A shadowy wing of the state stands accused of murdering a police officer to cover up its alleged crimes."
    — Dino Mattani (narration) [28:38]

• On System Collapse:

  • "Who can he trust? Can we trust our government? Can you trust any people in the system for safeguarding us?"
    — Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg [28:38-28:54]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:41 – Arrival at Matiba’s fatal crash scene
• 02:51 – Discovery this was a “hit,” not an accident
• 04:17 – Matiba’s family demands justice
• 06:25 – Insight on Abadiga’s criminal-terror overlap
• 09:24 – CCTV evidence and reconstructed abduction
• 11:18 – Vehicle registration breakthrough
• 13:39 – Link to Special Forces company revealed
• 16:26 – Brigadier Sekopello on investigation obstacles
• 17:20 – Matiba predicts his own death
• 18:09 – Colonel Frichtenberg on betrayal and smuggling
• 20:18 – "Smuggled" ISIS suspect; government collusion
• 23:38 – Why Abadiga was kidnapped
• 25:09 – Theory on why Matiba was killed
• 27:03 – Ongoing threats to police investigating the case
• 27:26 – Special Forces brought to trial (arrest, bail, ongoing impunity)
• 28:38 – Institutional trust in crisis
• 29:05 – Basasana Matiba: why her father?

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Conclusion

Special Forces on Trial delivers a harrowing and richly detailed account of how law, terror, and politics intersect in contemporary South Africa. The story of Franz Matiba’s murder reveals the peril faced by those who try to unveil state corruption and dirty secrets. The episode leaves listeners questioning the integrity of the country’s institutions and feeling the human cost of systemic betrayal—while the affected families continue to wait for justice.

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Transcript

[Dino Mattani]

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[Dino Mattani]

So this is the final road on Mathiba's last journey?

[Yashil Panchia]

It is indeed so. On his last day he was supposed to meet with an alleged whistleblower at the BP car wash in Linwood in Pretoria. And this is the route that he took home after that person didn't show at the meeting. And we are about to in just a few meters, approach the site where he died.

[Dino Mattani]

On a Sunday evening in August 2023, Lieutenant Colonel Franz Matiba was found dead in his upturned car by the side of a motorway outside Pretoria.

[Yashil Panchia]

Where's this?

[Dino Mattani]

Where's the actual spot?

[Yashil Panchia]

Right there behind us on the right. It's literally, literally the place we died.

[Dino Mattani]

Matiba was one of South Africa's top detectives, a veteran member of an elite police unit known as the Hawks. First reports from the scene suggested he was the victim of a tragic accident. But when Matiba's colleague Colonel Peter Beekman arrived, he discovered the death was was no accident.

[Colonel Peter Beekman]

As I approached the scene, I was only see the white Polo which Florence Matiba was driving. It's on his side. I was under the impression the scene is already be processed, but when I go inside the vehicle, then I realized but he's still in the car. I see a bullet hole through the pillar. He's been short and when we're all crime scene was changed because when we realized the murder scene it was a hit.

[Dino Mattani]

In the year Matiba was shot, a South African police officer was killed once every three days. But there was something very different about this murder. The mystery surrounding the death of respected hawks Detective lieutenant colonel Franz Matiba deepens. In fact, he was killed in an apparent ambush. Matiba had been investigating whether South Africa's special forces were behind the disappearance of a member of so called Islamic State or isis. On the day of his murder, Matiba went to meet a mysterious informant who claimed to have vital information. Police say it was a setup. The informant never showed and as Matiba drove home, he was tailed by a black BMW. Police believe the occupants opened fire and shot matiba dead. The 53 year old was a much loved husband and father.

[Basasana Matiba]

We are trying to cope, but no one is really coping. We need justice. We need justice. Those people should get arrested so that their kids can feel the pain that I'm feeling. I'm never. Can I hug my head anymore?

[Dino Mattani]

This is the documentary from the World Service. I'm Dino Mattani and together with my colleague Yashil Panchia, we've been investigating who killed Franz Matiba and why. In April 2023, Matiba was assigned to the case police say ultimately led to his death. The investigation into the disappearance and presumed killings of a man named Abdallah Abadiga and his bodyguard. The two men were last seen in December 2022 at the mall of Africa, a shopping centre on the outskirts of Johannesburg. So what do we know about Abdallah Abadiga? I first heard about him when I was researching ISIS in Africa. I was told he he was a prominent member of the group. Abadiga fled Ethiopia and was granted asylum in South Africa in 2008. In 2017, then aged 43, he was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He had allegedly gone there to forge links with an armed group that now brands itself as an ISIS affiliate. But in March 2020, having still not faced trial, Abadiga was mysteriously released and returned to South Africa. Just under two years later, Abadiga was sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department for allegedly being a key ISIS organizer and financial facilitator. Abadiga operated in Mayfair, the heart of Johannesburg's Ethiopian community. People here are reluctant to talk about him, but one contact did agree for his safety. His words are spoken by an actor.

[Anonymous Source (Actor)]

There is a lot of people that guard him. The mafia group. They call themselves isis, but they are

[Dino Mattani]

a mafia According to the us, Abadiga controlled two mosques in the city.

[Anonymous Source (Actor)]

The community is terrorized. They are all in fear of them. They take hostages. They establish their office there in the back of the mosque, the Taqwa mosque.

[Dino Mattani]

Our source says Abadiga extorted money under the guise of Zakat, the religious obligation for Muslims to give to charity.

[Anonymous Source (Actor)]

So they start making extortion from the richest ones. They're claiming, bring Zakat. Bring Zakat, Bring Zakat. Whoever refused, they burned their shop, they burned their houses.

[Dino Mattani]

Sources have told us Abadiga became wealthy and owned multiple properties. The US alleges he not only sent funds to ISIS supporters elsewhere in Africa, but also recruited for the group. But their most serious allegation against him is that he was a trusted supporter of Bilal al Sudani, an ISIS figurehead in Somalia. Sudani was accused by the US of funding the 2021 bomb attack at Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

The feared attack, a bombing, forewarned casualties,

[Dino Mattani]

rushed yet again into Kabul's emergency hospital. Thirteen U.S. service members and 170 civilians were killed. So the man whose disappearance Franz Matiba was investigating was said to be both a dangerous criminal and accused by the US of being a terrorist with international connections. Months before Matiba was involved, an amateur detective was already on the case.

[Farhad Huma]

I know his family. I did business with his family many years. They contacted myself. The brother actually contacted me to say, you know what? He feels that brother got kidnapped, they called out for help and I drove up the next day to Joabal.

[Dino Mattani]

This is Farhad Huma. I need to explain that he too is a controversial figure. He was also sanctioned by the US and on the same day as Abadiga. He denies claims he's the leader of a Durban based ISIS cell.

[Farhad Huma]

What evidence they've got, holy God knows. We don't know nothing. They haven't given us any evidence. I mean, if you really have evidence, charge me for it.

[Dino Mattani]

In South Africa, Huma has also been arrested on terrorism related charges and a kidnapped man was found in the basement of one of his properties. But all the charges against Humer were dropped and he claims he has been unfairly targeted by police. However, Humer managed to persuade the police to open a case about the disappearance of Abadiga and an investigating officer was assigned. Shortly after, the two of them got the footage from the security cameras at the Mall of Africa.

[Farhad Huma]

They gave us everything, they put everything in the hard drive for us and then we had to go through it. It took us hours and hours to chase what happened.

[Dino Mattani]

It was A huge breakthrough. We have seen stills from the CCTV video but not the full footage which the police say they have. According to Huma's testimony and other verified sources, this is what it reveals. At 9:55am on the day of their disappearance, Abdallah Abadiga and his bodyguard arrive at the mall and Park. Between 10am and noon they sit in the food court where they meet with contacts. The two men are then seen making their way back to the car park. But Humer says that as they do so, they are followed. One man in particular, wearing a blue top stands out. At 12:11, only three seconds after Abadiga pays for parking, the man in the blue top uses the same machine. The police say he follows Abadiga and his bodyguard into the parking lot and then. Well, we don't know what happens in the next seven minutes because there are no cameras where Abadiga parked. But at 12:18, CCTV shows a BMW, a Mercedes and an Audi drive to an exit barrier. Humer and the police believe that Aberdeaga and his bodyguard were in the back of one of these vehicles and had been abducted. CCTV shows four and a half hours later the Audi returns to the mall with another car. The man in the blue top is seen paying for parking again. Then the vehicles, together with Aberdeaga's car, drive away. The footage contained one more vital clue. The license plates of the suspected kidnappers vehicles were clearly visible.

[Farhad Huma]

The whole puzzle fell in place as we investigated. When we got the car registration number, we tracked the number.

[Dino Mattani]

The vehicles were registered to a company called Peters Communications Trust based outside Pretoria. So my colleague Yoshil drove us there to take a look.

[Yashil Panchia]

So we're approaching an address now which was the original reg address of Peter's Communications Trust. And the investigating officer when he was looking into the company came to this address. It's just a very normal looking house.

[Dino Mattani]

However, when the police investigator came calling, the person who answered was a big surprise. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC. World Service.

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[Dino Mattani]

I'm Dino Matani and with my colleague Yashil Panchia, we're investigating the murder of South African detective Franz Matiba. A retired military officer Opened the door. In fact, registration documents show that at the time, the company's four directors were all senior figures in the Special Forces. They included Herbert Machego, then commanding officer of 5 Special Forces Regiment. So was the military responsible for abadiga's disappearance? On 17 January 2023, the Police Officer investigating the case met with members of the Special Forces. Huma was not allowed in.

[Farhad Huma]

We wanted to know what's happened. Okay, we know that the military was involved in the kidnapping. We just wanted the fact they wanted the guy back, nothing else.

[Dino Mattani]

The outcome of the meeting was not what Homer had hoped for. The investigator made it clear he could no longer work with Huma.

[Farhad Huma]

The whole investigation stopped. So we asked him, we said, you know, what is this? So basically they informed him that we are isis, which is a lie. He stopped investigating. That's why we had to go to court.

[Dino Mattani]

In February 2023, Abadiga's brother Amin filed a petition asking the court to force Peter's communications trust, the Defence Minister or other ministers to reveal the whereabouts of the missing men. South Africa's president was also among the respondents listed on the petition, because under the country's constitution, only he can authorize Special Forces to operate domestically. We approached President Cyril Ramaphosa's office to ask whether he had any knowledge of any such deployment or Abadiga's abduction, but he declined to comment. Brigadier General Machego replied to the petition denying all knowledge of Abadiga. He admitted there had been Special Forces soldiers at the mall on the day of Abadiga's disappearance, but he said they were only there on a training exercise. He named a Major Sonny Boy Wambi as being the officer in charge. He also identified Wambi as. As the man in the blue top from the Mall cctv. This season you've won it. What would you say you've done differently

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

this season compared to last season?

[Dino Mattani]

We found several videos of Wambi online. In his spare time, he coaches a football team.

[Brigadier Paulina Sekopello]

Yeah, it was a matter of making sure that you keep the squad together and then you add a little bit of experience. Because when you look at the last season.

[Dino Mattani]

In April 2023, four months after Abadiga vanished, the investigation was transferred to Franz Matiba.

[Brigadier Paulina Sekopello]

He was the finest man. He was a trusted and loyal man. Yeah, that is how France was.

[Dino Mattani]

Brigadier Paulina Sekopello was Matiba's commanding officer. When we meet her at her office, she's wearing a Justice for France T shirt.

[Brigadier Paulina Sekopello]

There was information that was required from the Special Forces, and then we could not get, like, a response or it was like sending from pillar to post until we decided to approach the court.

[Dino Mattani]

Matiba applied for a subpoena to try to force the military to hand over details of the supposed training exercise at the Mall. Almost two months later, the Special Forces called him in to a meeting. Matiba reported back to his boss that the meeting hadn't been productive. And then he made a chilling prediction.

[Brigadier Paulina Sekopello]

When he leave my office, he said, brigadier, Imo, is the brother going to kill me? I'm going to die.

[Dino Mattani]

We've come to see somebody we hope can shed more light on the events that led to Matiba's murder.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

Give me a lighter. You can just light the. The papers.

[Yashil Panchia]

I can find the latter.

[Dino Mattani]

He's invited us to a braai, the South African version of a barbecue.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

In other countries they use gas and they call it a barbecue. South Africa, it's a sin if you use gas to cook meat in the open fire.

[Dino Mattani]

Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg is South Africa's retired head of counterterrorism.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

For the Hawks, the death of Matipa will forever haunt me. He was a good friend of mine. I worked with him since 2001. The late skillers of Matt. These persons are supposed to protect us. How is that possible?

[Dino Mattani]

While the fire builds, Colonel Frichtenberg gives us an extraordinary insight into a world of state secrets and betrayal. He started tracking Abdallah Abadiga in 2019. At that time, Abadiga was still in detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he had been arrested in 2017 for seeking to contact a brutal armed group called the adf.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

If he was not the kingpin of ISIS in South Africa. He was close to the kingpin of isis. We had a high level meeting. The intelligence services, all of them, myself, was in the meeting. And the decision was made that he will never put his foot on South African soil again.

[Dino Mattani]

It was agreed the Congolese authorities would be asked to deport Abadiga back to Ethiopia, the home country he fled. Colonel Friedenberg says he was even assured by an official from South Africa's Department of Home affairs that Abadiga had indeed been sent to Ethiopia. But a month or so later, he and his team got a shock. Abadiga had reportedly been seen in Johannesburg.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

And we didn't believe it. So I deployed intelligence services to confirm that to Makea. And lo and behold, they confirmed that he was back in South Africa.

[Dino Mattani]

Colonel Friedenberg received information that Abadiga had been flown back to South Africa on a plane chartered by the South African military in March 2020. He checked CCTV of the airport for the the period shortly after the flight had landed and found footage of Abadiga being shepherded out of a side door by a home affairs official.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

Yes. Smuggled him. I'll call it a name. Spade. A spade. They smuggled him back into South Africa. Back in South Africa, yes. It was frustrating to learn that the persons you're working with for years and sitting in meetings, taking decisions about the security of South Africa was openly lying to us and openly facilitating the smuggling back of known ISIS terrorists into South Africa.

[Dino Mattani]

So why did they do it? Colonel Frichtenberg claims the intelligence services wanted Aberdeaga to work for them.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

He was used as an asset. I will stop it there. I cannot say which intelligence organization used him. Which intelligence organization, domestic or international? I will go that far.

[Dino Mattani]

The allegation that Abadiga worked for a domestic or foreign intelligence agency has never been made publicly before. Colonel Friedenberg says he tried to keep tabs on Abadiga, but at one point, Abadiga even apparently tried to fake his own death. Shortly after Abadiga returned, an image circulated on social media which appeared to show his corpse.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

I studied the photo itself and I could clearly see that this is a stage scene, very amateurish. My deduction from that is he wanted to disappear from the radar. Things were getting too hot for him, or something like that. He wanted to disappear from the radar by staging his own death.

[Dino Mattani]

Abadiga remained free even after he was sanctioned by the US in March 2022. Finally, in October 2022, more than two years after Aberdegha's return, Colonel Frichtenberg hatched a plan to get him arrested and deported for overstaying his refugee visa. The plan was to arrest Aberdeger at a toll gate on the road between Cape Town and Johannesburg. However, for this to work, it would need cooperation from another government department.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

I was assured by Omer Face officials that they have a warrant of arrest for Aberdeen. They can arrest him and then deport him out of the country. That was our plan. That was my job operation. As we planned, our Face was on board.

[Dino Mattani]

But when Aberdeaga's car was stopped, Frigdenberg says it emerged Home affairs were not on board.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

He was searched and overfairs were told, okay, now we can arrest him. They said, no, we don't have any warrant of arrest. Suddenly we're just going to give him a written warning that he must appear in 14 days in front of the committee to motivate why his asylum seeking status must be extended. And he was released. Once again, we were betrayed by one of our own agencies.

[Dino Mattani]

But when Abadiga did then apply to remain in South Africa, he was rejected. On 15th December 2022, Abadiga was told that he would lose his refugee status. Two weeks after that date, he disappeared. We approached the Home Affairs Department for comment, but we received no response. So why would Abadiga have been abducted, in your view?

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

He was actually kidnapped just a few days before I retired. I only learned about it way after my retirement. I'm sure that the African authorities underestimated him. My opinion is that he's gone rope. His handler could not handle him anymore and they had to get rid of him. And that's the only way that he can. Otherwise, most probably he's laying himself somewhere in a shallow grave.

[Dino Mattani]

But without a body. There is one other possibility that we need to explore. We know the US accused Abadiga of being linked to Bilal al Sudani, the ISIS figurehead in Somalia. We have seen evidence that Abadiga's phone was turned on a few hours after he disappeared. And according to one reliable source, his phone was used to call a number in Somalia. Is it possible this was an attempt by Abadiga's kidnappers to obtain Suidani's location? United States has said its Special Forces have killed a senior figure in the Islamic State Group in Somalia, along with 10 associates. Bilal Al Sudani is alleged to have been. It's certainly interesting that Sudani was killed by U.S. navy SEALs only four weeks after Abadiga was abducted. We approached the U.S. department of War for comment, but received no reply.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

I cannot Comment on that. I don't want to make any conclusions on that or risk anything on that.

[Dino Mattani]

Why do you think Mathiba was killed?

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

I think he was barking up the right tree and the persons that gave the instructions was afraid of what he was going to open up, what Pandora box was having the key to.

[Dino Mattani]

Matipa was killed just two days after he predicted his own murder. On the day of his death, Matiba was at home when he received a phone call from an unknown informant. His daughter Bassetsana overheard the conversation.

[Basasana Matiba]

My dad was like, what do you want? And this person said, I have information about the case that your daily was. Can we meet? I think that's what he said because my dad's response was like, who are you? I can't imagine when I don't even know you.

[Dino Mattani]

Matiba was persuaded to meet this informant at a car wash in eastern Pretoria. He waited there for several hours. Police believe he was secretly being watched by his alleged assassins who were parked nearby in a black BMW. When it became clear that nobody was coming, Matiba left. Police alleged the BMW followed him and and that its occupants shot Matiba dead. Motorway camera pictures showed the BMW's license plates had been removed. However, police traced the car back to the same special forces front company, Peters Communications Trust. Police say they have evidence that Major Wombi, the man in the blue top, was using the car on the day of the murder. The new detectives assigned to investigate Matiba's murder and the disappearance of Abadiga and his bodyguard have also reportedly faced threats. Police say a message was sent to them by special forces which said, you can appoint 10 investigating officers. We will kill them all.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

For me, as a citizen of South Africa, not speaking as a policeman, I'm very concerned. Speaking as a policeman, ex policeman, I'm so glad I'm not in that subject structures anymore that you have to look over your shoulder if you speak to anybody and don't know who to trust at all at any time.

[Dino Mattani]

Last June, Wambi, Herbert Machego and 10 other soldiers were charged in connection with Matiba's murder as well as the kidnap and murder of Abadiga and his bodyguard. They deny all the charges. Wambi, Machego and another of the accused were actually promoted after they were arrested. 12 SANDF officials accused of murdering Hawks investigator Franz Matiba have been granted bail of 10,000 rand each. They appeared in the Randberg Machete court today. Last week, both the defense following an appeal by prosecutors, Wambi and five others had their bail revoked. But they failed to surrender their Lawyers say they are in a military hospital being treated for for mental health issues. We approached the Defence Ministry for comment on the issues raised by our investigation, but we received no reply. As South Africa waits to see if and when the accused stand trial, there are questions about what the case reveals about the country's institutions. A shadowy wing of the state stands accused of murdering a police officer to cover up its alleged crimes.

[Colonel Tolle Frichtenberg]

It is clear that there was people with much higher authorities that gave the word for him to be executed. Who can he trust? Can we trust our government? Can you trust any people in the system for safeguarding us?

[Dino Mattani]

And Matipa's daughter, Basasana says her family can't start to heal until those responsible are held to account.

[Brigadier Paulina Sekopello]

Why?

[Basasana Matiba]

Why? Why my dad? Because he was doing his job. But no, I don't have a dad. We need justice. We need justice.

[Dino Mattani]

Thank you for listening to the documentary with me, Dino Matani and Yashil Panchia. The producers were Ed Mayne and Yashil Panchaya. The executive editors were Nick Norman Butler and Andy Bell. Rebecca Henschke was the editor and Sam Dickinson was the sound engineer.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

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