Chris Mangena tells the inquiry about the planted firearm

A hidden eyewitness allegedly watched Cato Manor police officers plant a firearm on his brother's body after torturing and executing him in Umlazi.

Ballistics expert drops damning testimony

• Lieutenant Colonel Chris Mangena testified before the Nkabinde Enquiry on 26 February about the Umlazi killing.
• Mangena was brought to KwaZulu-Natal in 2012 specifically to review Cato Manor unit cases.
• Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC led his evidence as the second witness for Advocate Andrew Chauke.
• This enquiry is evaluating whether suspended DPP Chauke is fit to hold office.

The Umlazi operation was horrifying

• Officers allegedly tortured the victim before shooting him at close range.
• They then forced his finger onto a planted gun's trigger to fake primer residue.
• The victim's brother was hiding in another room and witnessed the entire sequence.
• His scream alerted the officers, but gathered crowds outside prevented further harm.

Planted firearms were a recurring pattern

• Mangena reviewed 24 dockets and found that suspects were killed without returning fire in 23 of them.
• Firearms kept appearing next to bodies in ways that contradicted ballistic evidence.
• Bullet trajectories and gunshot residue consistently debunked the official police narratives.
• At least one 2011 Thokoza case labeled a suicide also failed to match the physical evidence.

Cato Manor unit's brutal reputation precedes it

• The Durban-based organized crime unit got disbanded over extrajudicial killing allegations.
• Families and human rights groups have long called these operations planned executions.
• Mangena's scene reconstructions use hard science to challenge officers' written accounts.

Stakes are massive for justice and accountability

• The hidden brother's witness statement could trigger fresh criminal investigations against those officers.
• Mangena's current whereabouts for that key statement remain unknown.
• Affected KwaZulu-Natal communities are watching this enquiry closely for real answers.
• Justice Nkabinde will issue fitness recommendations on Chauke after all evidence wraps up.