Mapaballo Borotho
- A witness told the Madlanga Commission that KZN police knew about Sandiso Magaqa’s planned assassination two weeks in advance but failed to act.
- He claims the shooters said senior officers would assist them, including supplying equipment and protection.
- Magaqa was killed in 2017 after allegedly exposing financial misconduct in the Umzimkhulu Municipality.
A new witness told the Madlanga Commission that KwaZulu-Natal police knew Sandiso Magaqa was going to be assassinated two weeks before his death, but ignored the warnings.
These chilling details rocked the commission on Monday, as testimonies resumed on 26 January 2026.
He said Magaqa’s brutal murder could have been prevented had swift action been taken.
Witness E, who testified on camera to protect his identity, revealed that the shooters told him they had been instructed to kill the slain ANC Youth League secretary.
“The shooters are the ones that told me, we are being hired to kill Sindiso Magaqa,” he said.
35-year-old Magaqa was assassinated outside a tuck shop after a council meeting in 2017 in KwaZulu-Natal, alongside two other councillors.
He was allegedly killed for being a vocal critic of how the Umzimkhulu Municipality used finances meant for the refurbishment of a memorial hall.
In July 2025, confessed hitman Sbusiso Ncengwa, who admitted to killing the Magaqa, was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Chief Justice Madlanga asked Witness E whether the shooters had also named people who would assist them. He replied “yes”, testifying that the alleged masterminds identified by the gunmen were his superiors, whose names he refused to reveal for safety reasons.
“At the time of the planning, my superiors did not know that the hitmen would ask them for assistance. Secondly, the equipment that was going to be used in the killing of Magaqa came from the very same superiors.”
Madlanga questioned how the killers knew they would be assisted by senior police officials if those officials allegedly did not know they were going to help.
Witness E responded:
“I got the information of the killing of Magaqa on Sunday, 02 July 2017, from an informer who was hired to kill Magaqa. He told me that he was going to ask my superiors to assist them in such a way that when they go and come back from Mzimkhulu, they will get protection.”
Witness E said the following day he informed his superiors about the plot and asked them to block the planned assassination, but they chose not to heed his warnings.
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