Johannesburg – The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) has reportedly admitted to the family of a murdered Brakpan man that fears for investigators’ lives have contributed to a nearly four-year delay in prosecuting alleged police officers involved in his torture and killing, according to AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
Fifty-two-year-old Emmanuel Mbense was allegedly tortured to death on 15 April 2022 by members of the South African Police Service (SAPS), Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), and private security officers.
His body was dumped in a dam.
The case has remained unresolved despite repeated promises of imminent arrests.
The details of the alleged murder surfaced publicly in late 2025 during testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Enquiry by Marius van der Merwe, a former private security officer known as Witness D.
Van der Merwe admitted participating in the torture, including pinning Mbense down with a broken table leg while another officer suffocated him. He claimed he was instructed to dispose of the body in the dam.
Van der Merwe was assassinated on 5 December 2025, shortly after his testimony.
Mbense’s family approached AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit on 18 November 2025, days after Van der Merwe’s commission appearance.
Following a letter from the unit to IPID in December 2025, an IPID investigator met with the family—without the unit’s knowledge—and reiterated long-standing assurances that the case was advanced and arrests were forthcoming.
During the meeting, the investigator reportedly cited death threats to IPID staff and the need for security teams as barriers to progressing the investigation.
This prompted sharp criticism from Advocate Gerrie Nel, head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
“Must we accept that IPID is incapable of investigating and arresting ‘dangerous’ criminals?” Nel asked in a recent letter to IPID.
He highlighted that, if the commission’s evidence holds, IPID faced a potential Section 204 witness (Van der Merwe) in fear for his life, investigators receiving threats, and ultimately the murder of one suspect—yet no decisive action followed, with no arrests after nearly three years.
AfriForum warned it may pursue charges of defeating the ends of justice if the true reasons for the delays emerge.
The unit also referenced a disturbing video appearing to show another “tubing” torture incident involving a woman.
The timing is unclear, but if post-dating Mbense’s death, IPID’s inaction may have exposed others to risk.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit spokesperson, Barry Bateman, condemned the situation: “If investigators are paralysed by threats of violence, they have effectively abandoned the state’s duty to investigate without fear, rendering criminals untouchable.”
He added that violent suspects should be arrested promptly, with allegations of threats tested in court, and suspects potentially held in custody.
Bateman expressed concern over Van der Merwe’s murder undermining prosecution prospects and urged IPID to provide Mbense’s family a substantive update, ending what he called empty promises, causing further distress.
IPID has not publicly commented on the specific admission or the family’s claims.
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