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Fighting crime with clean hands : Mail & Guardian Online Page I of3 Help - Help for Webmasters Ya$ffi[u€&ffi*d < back to results for "madzhie" Below is a cache of http:/Iwww.mg.co.zalContenUl 3.asp?ao=12091 . lt s a snapshot of the page taken as our search engine crawled the Web. We've highlighted the words: madzhie The web site itself may have changed. You can check thecurrent page (without highlighting). Yahoo! is not affiliated with the authors of this page or responsible for its content. H:e$f ,ESr It'iElt,iE!1tJ:5 [fi nreket!-rrsrorrrhomepaqe ['lr] = oenoteilrejnruo eqttett $*nday, May 15, 2**$ S:53 PIS Afriea's first r:rilie":* f3*b?sp!eFr*r" I sEARCH: ir M&GOnline | ,:- TheWeb L__ __ _"- '--'. __ ._.',9"j [advancedsearehlptiqng] j er ttIIf,fi ffi $f, tsitllonr i ne BREAKING NEWS rRD\!'l'PAG€ r.iATlOr.tAL AFRlCA !NTIRNATiOiqAl- BUSFifSS )r\lr\ I AND !N OTHER Ii5'+VS WEEK iI\ P1CTURTS NEWS INSIGHT AFRlCA !IJTTRNA]-iOt]At COMiliENT & ANALYS]S TCSNCMY & BUS]NESS C0LUMNj_qTS CSI.JVERSE -:-ti\ 8u€.sTl0Ns FDITOR]AL5 I\,iCN]TOR KRISJAi{ LEMIVIfR BODY !-ATJGIJAGE FRASER'S RAZOR LEISURE ARTS \T/hEELS & DEALS CruLIN5 L5UFHE REGULARS NATIONAL , Fighting crime with clean hands , Dikatso Mametse I Johannesburg : ts March 2003 11:59 , A Nigerian drug lord once offered Senior Superintendent Ernest Madzhie R1- million to look the other way; the cop stared him straight in the eyes, ' handcuffed him and escorted him to jail. "The more policemen take bribes, the more the criminals believe they have a licence to commit crimes," says Madzhie, a man acclaimed by the police top brass as one of their best. National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who early in his tenure recognised Madzhie's integrity, holds him up as an example of the ideal South African police officer. "Madzhie is an outstanding, dedicated, committed and honest policeman who has served the South African Police Service and the community of this country with great distinction." Madzhie never planned to be a policeman while growing up in ruralVenda and still does not conform to the stereotype most South Africans have of cops. ln 30 years of service he has never used his gun. His calm manner when dealing with criminals has earned him the respect of his colleagues and even the lawbreakers he regularly puts behind bars. Madzhie says he would be a multi-millionaire if he had accepted all the bribes offered to him over the years. "One guy offered me R1-million in exchange for my silence. He told me he could make me rich," he recalls with a twinkle in his eye. The offer came after he captured a Nigerian drug lord and busted a cocaine importation and distribution network. Madzhie says criminals have sent all kinds of intermediaries offering him fortunes if he would drop cases against them. He says colleagues, lawyers and even Premier Soccer League soccer players have been used to entreat F I I c ZAPIRO . fuIADAM & EVE , rYl:i'JlLf llf aJ ! BI-CGSPOT . t= i'3 E { a....1'-i: ,ry -.;E&.. ::;# ::g;fr http.l1216.LAg.n4,98ls arah1saeheTZ&p:+madzhia&ei:UTF-8&meta=lo 3D&fl... 27 8612885

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Page 1: Fighting crime with clean hands

Fighting crime with clean hands : Mail & Guardian Online Page I of3

Help - Help for WebmastersYa$ffi[u€&ffi*d< back to results for "madzhie"

Below is a cache of http:/Iwww.mg.co.zalContenUl 3.asp?ao=12091 . lt s a snapshot of the pagetaken as our search engine crawled the Web. We've highlighted the words: madzhieThe web site itself may have changed. You can check thecurrent page (without highlighting).

Yahoo! is not affiliated with the authors of this page or responsible for its content.

H:e$f ,ESr

It'iElt,iE!1tJ:5

[fi nreket!-rrsrorrrhomepaqe

['lr] = oenoteilrejnruo eqttett

$*nday, May 15, 2**$ S:53 PIS Afriea's first r:rilie":* f3*b?sp!eFr*r" I

sEARCH: ir M&GOnline | ,:- TheWeb L__ __ _"- '--'.

__ ._.',9"j [advancedsearehlptiqng] j er

ttIIf,fi ffi $f, tsitllonr i ne

BREAKING NEWS

rRD\!'l'PAG€r.iATlOr.tAL

AFRlCA

!NTIRNATiOiqAl-

BUSFifSS

)r\lr\ I

AND !N OTHER Ii5'+VS

WEEK iI\ P1CTURTS

NEWS INSIGHT

AFRlCA

!IJTTRNA]-iOt]At

COMiliENT & ANALYS]S

TCSNCMY & BUS]NESS

C0LUMNj_qTS

CSI.JVERSE-:-ti\ 8u€.sTl0NsFDITOR]AL5

I\,iCN]TOR

KRISJAi{ LEMIVIfR

BODY !-ATJGIJAGE

FRASER'S RAZOR

LEISURE

ARTS

\T/hEELS & DEALS

CruLIN5

L5UFHE

REGULARS

NATIONAL

, Fighting crime with clean hands, Dikatso Mametse I Johannesburg

: ts March 2003 11:59

, A Nigerian drug lord once offered Senior Superintendent Ernest Madzhie R1-million to look the other way; the cop stared him straight in the eyes,

' handcuffed him and escorted him to jail.

"The more policemen take bribes, the more the criminals believe they have alicence to commit crimes," says Madzhie, a man acclaimed by the police topbrass as one of their best.

National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, who early in his tenure recognisedMadzhie's integrity, holds him up as an example of the ideal South Africanpolice officer. "Madzhie is an outstanding, dedicated, committed and honestpoliceman who has served the South African Police Service and thecommunity of this country with great distinction."

Madzhie never planned to be a policeman while growing up in ruralVendaand still does not conform to the stereotype most South Africans have of cops.ln 30 years of service he has never used his gun. His calm manner whendealing with criminals has earned him the respect of his colleagues and eventhe lawbreakers he regularly puts behind bars.

Madzhie says he would be a multi-millionaire if he had accepted all the bribesoffered to him over the years.

"One guy offered me R1-million in exchange for my silence. He told me hecould make me rich," he recalls with a twinkle in his eye. The offer came afterhe captured a Nigerian drug lord and busted a cocaine importation anddistribution network.

Madzhie says criminals have sent all kinds of intermediaries offering himfortunes if he would drop cases against them. He says colleagues, lawyersand even Premier Soccer League soccer players have been used to entreat

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Page 2: Fighting crime with clean hands

Fighting crime with clean hands : Mail & Guardian Online Page2 of3

him to accept bribes. But, he says with steely satisfaction, he has neversuccumbed. "l thought about the community and couldn't imagine using thismoney to better my life and that of my family while millions suffer and becomedrug addicts.

"Some robbers willjustify their crimes and try to convince me to take the bribeby saying they are just taking back the money the white people robbed fromtheir forefathers,"

Madzhie now works on countering"4l9" scam artists.

Section 419 was written into Nigeria's penal code in the late '1980s to crackdown on an advanced scam that hammered victims across the country. Thefraudsters pose as friends or relatives of deposed African leaders and sendout letters requesting help to move money from frozen accounts. Others claimto be bank officials who have access to vast fortunes that betong to no one.

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Find yourmatch now! Born in a Venda village in 1950, Madzhie started life as a farm boy, herding

his father's goats and sheep and ploughing the fields every day after school.

He loved maths and science, and aspired to be a teacher. But that dream fellflat once he finished school and failed to find a job in Louis Trichardt.ln 1972he travelled to the then Witwatersrand, every ruralyoung man's El Dorado.

There he joined the police force in desperation. He recalls that white cadetswould be passed with a nudge and a wink, even if they fared poorly, but theblack recruits often had to repeat their subjects over and over.

In those days few black cops were made commissioned officers. A blackpoliceman could not arrest a white criminal unless a white officer was present.

"sometimes the criminals would call the office complaining that a black guywas trying to arrest them."

Madzhie started off doing clerical work - filing, taking complaints and writingdown crime victims' statements. He was transferred to the narcotics bureau in

1976 as a clerk, Two years later he was made a field cop, investigatingshebeens, prostitution, illegal gambling and drug syndicates.

"We were called the vice squad then and conducted all kinds ofinvestigations."

Things changed. Twenty years later, in 1996, he became a captain. Shortlyafterwards he was promoted to superintendent and then to seniorsuperintendent at the Crime lntelligence Management Centre. He hasinvestigated organised crime ever since.

He deals with drug trafficking, cross-border hijacking, transnational crime andforeigners who commit crimes in South Africa. Now he has 30 officers in his

They promise a sizeable percentage of the funds to their victims and sweetenthe deal by saying the transfer will benefit one good cause or another. Oncethe victims agree, they are sent vast amounts of official-looking paperwork.

The fraudsters usually ask the potential victims to meet them. Many havebeen held for ransom, robbed or murdered once in the clutches of the scamartists.

The hundreds of millions of rands generated by the s€ms then finance drugsyndicates and other criminal organisations.

As the heat grew in Nigeria the syndicates moved to fresh pastures and manyset up shop in South Africa. Madzhie delights in busting their operations andputting them behind bars. His unit has already taken 170 of these con artistsoff the streets.

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Page 3: Fighting crime with clean hands

Fighting crime with clean hands : Mail & Guardian Page 3 of3

unit.

Madzhie has little time for people who whine about crime but fail to comeforward to report incidents and present evidence that could help the cops putcriminals away. He says it is the duty of citizens to come forward with detailsof crime. "Police cannot always smell out where crimes are happening."

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Page 6: Fighting crime with clean hands

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Huge cocainehaul found inwine bottles

POLICE seizcd be'rv,cct'r 180k8 and 360kgof cocaine mixed rvithu'ine, at the Kaserne

container dcPot in south-

ern Johsnnesburg on

TuesdaY.The valuc ofthe drugs

whs estirnated at bc-

trveen R45 and R90 mil'lion md is believcrl to bc

the largcst haul ever toertter the counrry, said

sookesman lnsPtctorMark ReYnolds .

P,-rli;l v.'cre tr:lrl rcontainer with SouthArnerican wine laccdrvith cocaine arrivcd at

Durban hrrbour on

Novembcr 16."On FridaY the con'

iainer carne uP to lohan'

OfiE person was killedand 1? others injuredwhcn a minibus ta"ri

overturncd on thc

Heidclberg road east ofJohennesburg YesterdaY-

Johanncsburg uafficspekesman ConclNlackaY said the acct'dcnt happcned shonlYbeforc 5Pm, not far frorn

lhc Johanncsburg freshproduce market.' "lt has bcenr!,.r. r'll dev i

M J RFYNOLDSa4237251 -,-JnJF'.

from rhe Chilian cxileswho had hen holding Per-nanrnt vigils outside his

nesbur-q and was lcft at

thc Krscrne depotDetectir'es wetched itbut when it bccamc clear

it rvas not going to bc

clainred. theY oPened it'''Insp RcYnolds srid.

lnside lhe conlalncrwere 11 600 boltles

connining about ? 500

liaes of winc rnixed withcoc:aine.

The cocaine $as to bc

cxrsctcd and sold bY rNrgerian dr'ug sYndicrtc

xbich opcratcd in Ciu'teng, InsP RcYnolds

sdd.The bottles werc laken

to the policc forensic

scicnce laboratorY in

Prctoria. - SaPa.

F.I

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( W"'//','1.,#

UOOU! trrc

his career"HE cl

ple's tceth grinding in a

neiehborrrhood wherc the

residcnts r'aluc Peacc and

Hirlcr is movtng into trehouso ncxt door." - SaPa'

AFP,

courl to lacs Posglbleextradltlon to Spaln'

fiaturt bY AP

\

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TFR]FR]rRFRFRFR

1 dead, L7 hurtin taxi crash

laJru.n8andlrhe

roeds are verY wet. We

susDcct that the rari &i-vcr lost contol of his

minibus in the Prcvailingwet conditions'"

|v{ackay said Para'medics were helPing the

iniured rvhile traffrc offr-ci.ilr clerrcd the road ofdebris.

"Tr*ffic is backed uP

for,;cvcral kilometres'but lYe should havc the

road clearcd sho-rt!''.l' .-Saoa, ',

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lhe Govern€ss. 00 6r*sdr tfr|rtqr. tr*llv ll 14l{0 !!6' IJ0

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Page 7: Fighting crime with clean hands

.: , .: :: :. , 1, pollce omcers.afteFqi,,,//,K'/'r/,/./zh2 : -, --r-r- ) '

bank robber convictedBy ELLIoTT SYLVESIER

A Germiston magistrate thisweek convicted a Nigerian of amultimi-llion-rand bank robberyand critlcised hvo Brixton mur-der and robbery rinit membersfor their disregard for the larvand their allegations that theman was their irrformer.

The tongue-lashng from Mag-istrate Deon Snyman was thesecond admonition the Brlxtonunit's members had receivedduring the tria-t of Nigerian bankrobber Vitalis lbeawachi, whowas convicted this week of thearmed robbery of the MercaatileBank of Lisbon on June 15 lastyear.

After his arrest by membersof the Johannesburg organisedcrime unit, Rl,Smillion worth oftravellers cheques and foreigncurrency were found in hjs pos-session, but Ibeawachi claimedhe was working as an bformerfor the Brlrlon unit. A year-longcou-rt battle toverify his claimfollorved, but judg-ment seemed totake a back seat inthe light of Sny-mal's criticism ofmembers of theBrlxton unit whocontended in courtthat Ibeawachi

Tfure is noneedfor acourt of l"aw

Marais did not detain thembecause "two suspects and asource had told me who wasresponsible". C,onveniently thesehl'o suspects escaped from cus-tody ald the source was nevernamed.

"With people like Maraj.s andVan Niekerk, there is no need fora directorate of public prosecu-tions. There is no need for a courtof law because they decide who isguilly and who is not," Snymansaid.

He added that the officers'ciajms that Nigerials were neverinvolved in bank mbberies was"rubbish".

The magistrate had earlierhauled Van Niekerk over thecoals, saying the Brixton murderard mbbery unit's methods ofentrapment to combat crimewere unacceptabie in terms ofthe Criminal Procedure AcL

The two ofliiers were not pr+sent during Snymaa's verbalattack. Marais made a hasty exit

a-fter his question-able testimonydodging a televi-sion crew at the en-t:ance of the court.

Gauteng Safety,Security and Pub-lic Liaison Depart-ment spokespersonMongezi Mnyanisaid the conduct of

becawe thrydtci"dc whois guilty

.yas not guilty//E Snyman compared the two/ Brixton officers to the two organ-

,{ ir"d crime unit members, Lnspec-

/ tor Simon Ntuli and Capgrn/ Ernest Madzie, whSlq_Xg_jg:, %'-L. scribed as hon-est and reliable.

But the burly magistrate'sdemeanour changed when headdressed the testimony of Captain Samuel Jacobus van Niekerk and Inspector JacquesBurger Marais.

"If ever I sa-"v hvo biased wit-nesses who were not impartialand objective, it is Van Niekerkand Marais," he said.

As for the methods of investi-gation, Sn1'rnan said: "These arestrange tjmes, and stange meth-ods might be ca-lled for becausecrime is rife, but it is still notacceptable. It is not strange thatan informer could commit crimeshimself."

Shrugging his shoulders, headded: "Half of South Africa'sidormers could be giving,infor-mation about the other half."

He had more harsh words forMarais, who testified that shortlyafter the bank robbery he cameacross tlree men, one of -whonr

i was..in possession of bavellers. cheques. Marajs {aiq{.$nt tuo

the Brixton oflicers had raisedeyebrows in the departnent:"We want to see a fuII investiga-tion into tlie two policemen.Someone must provide answers,and if there are any irregulari-ties, they must face the fi:ll forceof the law."

Director Azlvinndini Nengov-hela, spokesperson for the previacial police commissioner, saidh-is deparhnent was not in a posi-tion to react to Snyman's statement, but wonld decide after thecourt records had been studied.

"It is a very interesting devel-opment that he (Ibeawachi) wasfound guiity but we will have toexamiae the records and seewhether the magistrate has madeany reco[lmendations before wecal take action with regard to thepolicemen involved-"

At the outset of the case, ANCspokesperson Smuts Ngonyamacondemned the in-fighting between the Brixton murder androbbery unit and the organisedcrime unit, uying any cormptofticers should face the firll wrathof the law. : ,

He aereed with Snyman thatthe cou-irb1r Cor{d do witloutunreliable police officers becausethey were part driclparcel of c6r-

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Page 8: Fighting crime with clean hands

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