Abdella Hussein Abadigga

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)...

Yet state prosecutors never charged Abdella Abadigga...

Timeline of key developments from 2008 to August 2026 The sequence of events that led to 12 senior officers from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) being charged with murder and abduction and the high-level political support that has helped them evade accountability Date Development 2008 Abdella Abadigga an Ethiopian national is granted refugee status in South Africa...

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...

Mathipa had been investigating the abduction and rendition of terror suspect Abdella Hussein Abadiga – reportedly a South African asset at the time...

At the time of his death Mathipa was investigating the South African Defence Force's alleged role in the abduction and murder of Abdella Hussein Abadiga – a United States-designated Islamic State financier who is believed to have served as a Defence Intelligence asset...