How top Hawks official made 37 deposits of R10k each at an ATM

The head of the Hawks tracing task team in KwaZulu-Natal − a unit that has been accused of carrying out 172 extra-judicial killings in the province − allegedly made 37 deposits of R10,000 each at a time into his home loan account within an hour on the night of August 31 2022.

This was revealed at the Madlanga commission when Lt-Col Deenadayalan “Deena” Govender took the stand on Monday. Govender faced tough questions at the commission regarding payments totalling over R3m that went into his account between April 2022 and August 2023.

Govender said he could not remember the source of some of the payments.

Regarding the source of the 37 deposits of R10,000 each, Govender said he had received the money from his mother-in-law, who was assisting him in purchasing a property.

He said his mother-in-law gave him the cash in the afternoon, and he went to an ATM to transfer the money.

“Commissioner, when you go to an ATM, it [only] takes R10,000 at a time, and you will have to deposit one after the other,” he said. “It was after hours, and I thought it would be easy [this way].”

Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga told him that he wouldn’t say it was an easy way and that he wouldn’t do it if it were him.

Commissioner Adv Sandile Khumalo told Govender that his reason did not make sense, as it was unsafe to carry such a large amount and make numerous deposits. “It smells of money laundering,” he said.

Another transaction that Govender had difficulty explaining was the source of R298,462 that he received in April 2023.

Govender said he had received it as a “loan” in cash from the late Josh Chelin [whom he considered a father]. He [Govender] then gave the money to his accountant, Kassie Shamal, who later arranged for it to be transferred into Govender’s home loan account.

Govender was then asked why he would opt for this method and why he didn’t send the money directly to his account.

Madlanga then told him that the matter was more complicated. “What you are saying is absolutely nonsensical,” he said.

Evidence leader Adv Matthew Chaskalson said the manner in which the deposit was made “has the hallmarks of money laundering”.

Chaskalson said the amount of money deposited into Govender’s account was over R3m, and over R2m came from people who were deceased and could not contradict or corroborate Govender’s version.