Emmanuel Mbense
1Min
South Africa
Dec 11, 2025
The family of Emmanuel Mbense, a Brakpan father of five who was tortured and murdered before his body was dumped in a dam, says it has lost all trust in law-enforcement authorities and has now turned to AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit for help after learning the horrific details of his death.
The family of Emmanuel Mbense, a Brakpan father of five who was tortured and murdered before his body was dumped in a dam, says it has lost all trust in law-enforcement authorities and has now turned to AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit for help after learning the horrific details of his death for the first time during recent testimony at the Madlanga Commission.
Mbense, 51, was killed on 15 April 2022. His body was found the next day in the Duduza dam in Nigel, still carrying his car keys and driver’s licence. His death certificate records blunt-force trauma to the head as the cause of death.
The family only discovered what happened to him when Marius van der Merwe, known as Witness D, testified before the commission last week and admitted that he participated in the torture as part of an attempt to defeat the ends of justice. Moments before his testimony, an IPID investigator warned the family that “disturbing details” would emerge.
“For a long time, we lived with unanswered questions,” Mbense’s brother, Nhlanhla, told News24. “Hearing the truth for the first time in a room full of strangers was devastating. We were re-traumatised as the details came out. We had no time to prepare ourselves emotionally.”
The family approached AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit on 18 November four days after Van der Merwe’s testimony saying they had grown frustrated after years of being told by SAPS and IPID that arrests were “imminent”. Hours after the unit wrote to IPID head Jennifer Ntlatseng on Tuesday, an investigator again phoned Nhlanhla with the same message.
Advocate Gerrie Nel, head of the unit, accused IPID of dragging its feet and protecting those implicated. In a letter to Ntlatseng, Nel said recent developments had exposed “the extent of criminal activity involving members of law-enforcement agencies” and the failure of oversight bodies to act.
“We view this as a stratagem to conceal from the public the extent of criminal activity in which members of law-enforcement agencies are involved,” Nel wrote. “The only guarantee appears to be that suspects have found safe refuge within collapsed, inept law-enforcement agencies.”
Nel highlighted the apparent assassination of Van der Merwe, who had publicly implicated himself and others, including law-enforcement officers, in Mbense’s murder. He said testimony by retired Ekurhuleni Metro Police deputy chief Revo Spies suggested Van der Merwe had been earmarked as a potential Section 204 witness raising further questions about why no arrests had been made.
Nhlanhla said the family had been forced to seek outside help. “This reflects the sense of abandonment we have felt. The very institutions that are meant to deliver justice have failed us.”
Private Prosecution Unit spokesperson Barry Bateman criticised the state for allowing someone implicated in the murder to testify publicly without being arrested. “It is inexplicable that Van der Merwe, and those he implicated, were not taken into custody and brought before court. That is where the state can ensure witness safety.”
The unit has now demanded an urgent update from IPID and an explanation for the prolonged delay. It says it will monitor the case closely to ensure that “everyone including law-enforcement officers is treated equally before the law”.
