Frans Mathipa

Police investigations into the abduction of Islamic State financier Abdella Abadigga in 2022 and the murder of detective Lieutenant-Colonel Frans Mathipa in 2023 have led to charges against 12 senior officers in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) (AC Vol 66 No 15 Unity government shaken as police chief blows the whistle & Vol 66 No 17 General's Iran mission deepens ANC rifts)...

6 August 2023 Lt Col Frans Mathipa a senior police investigator with the Hawks unit who is leading the probe into the abduction and possible murder of Abadigga is called to meet a source in Pretoria who had promised information on the SANDF's ties with Abadigga...

WHERE THE SPOTLIGHT WILL NOT LAND The evidence assembled by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) in the murder of LieutenantColonel Frans Mathipa and the kidnapping of Abdella Abadigga is weighty yet the case cannot proceed with so many of the accused still able to avoid custody – and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) closing ranks as the country watches its other security services taken apart in public...

He has also hired lawyers to represent 12 senior SANDF officers from a special forces unit arrested for allegedly killing Hawks investigator Frans Mathipa in August 2023...

On 2 July 12 military officials – including one serving and one retired Major-General – were arrested in connection with the 2023 assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Frans Mathipa of the Hawks special police investigation unit...