By: Saneliso Mlambo
IPID’s Len Barnabas John told the Madlanga Commission that some KZN police shootings may be extrajudicial killings.
John is IPID’s Deputy Director for Investigations in KwaZulu-Natal. He testified before the commission in Pretoria on Wednesday, 12 August 2026.
John appeared as the commission examined alleged KZN police task teams and their operations. His evidence focused on IPID investigations into alleged police killings, criminal links and specialised task teams.
He told the commission that police often claimed suspects fired first before officers returned fire.
However, John said IPID investigations uncovered cases contradicting those police accounts.
“We’ve identified through our investigation that in these killings, you’ll get a shooting where six people are shot and killed,” John said.
“However, when you do an investigation at the crime scene, you find only two firearms.”
John gave another example involving nine people who were allegedly shot dead.
“You get a case where there are nine people that are shot, and you find only three firearms,” he said.
The commission then questioned John about the significance of finding fewer firearms.
John’s evidence indicated that firearm evidence could challenge claims that all deceased people were armed.
He said IPID had also investigated shootings involving task teams in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to John, some operations involved suspects allegedly hiding inside hijacked properties.
He said property owners were sometimes kept inside while criminals remained at the premises.
John alleged that police sometimes entered these properties and shot everyone inside.
“Because police indicate that they came under fire and that is why they shot,” he said.
John also raised concerns about the documentation surrounding task-team shootings.
He said some operations did not have proper case numbers showing which suspects police were seeking.
“In some cases, they cannot even give you the names of the deceased that they shot,” John said.
John said IPID’s investigations found that some people killed during these operations could not be linked to the crimes police allegedly targeted.
IPID has identified 149 deaths across 77 cases involving KZN police task teams, according to evidence presented to the commission.
John said the findings led IPID to question whether some operations were intended to arrest suspects.
“We can look from the examples that we have that they go out to kill the person,” he told the commission.
“That is why we indicate that these are extrajudicial killings.”
John’s testimony forms part of the commission’s broader investigation into alleged criminality, political interference and corruption within South Africa’s criminal justice system.
His evidence is based on investigations conducted by IPID into alleged police conduct in KwaZulu-Natal.