Retired warrant officer Gregory Loftus, father of slain KZN tow truck owner Bevan Loftus told the Madlanga Commission his son was killed by the police in a bogus Cash-in-Transit operation.

“Bevan was murdered by the police under the guise of a legitimate police operation and at the instance of Clive Naiker, a competitor of Bevan in the tow truck industry and alleged drug dealer,” said Loftus.

He said at the time of his murder, Bevan was in hiding after being warned that KZN CIT task team Captain Deen Govender was intending to kill him.

Loftus approached the courts on 31 March 2023, “to interdict Captain Deena Govender and the SAPS from murdering my son”.

“A day after the [interdict] application was issued, Captain Deena Govender and a group of SAPS officers under his command murdered my son anyway,” he said.

Bevan operated a tow truck company with 12 vehicles working in Durban South. The commission heard Bevan had survived an attempted assassination by members of a gang called “the Cartel” and had lost five drivers in numerous hits.

“No one has been charged with the crimes yet there were witnesses to all these incidents,” said Loftus.

On Wednesday, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) KZN deputy director Len John told the commission that his investigation into Bevan's murder implicated task team leader Govender and rival tow truck owner Naiker.

John argued that KZN police task teams had been involved in numerous murders disguised as cash-in-transit operations after receiving unverified tip-offs from the Crime Intelligence division.

He alleged that the murders of Bevan, Ryan Santos, Chase Fynn, Michigan Hippolyte and Sihle Zondi, were carried out by police task teams who acted on behalf of drug cartels. He said the task team members could not produce a case docket on which the operation was based and usually left no survivors at the crime scene.

“However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that Lt-Col Deena Govender had been commissioned by Mr Clive Naiker of Roadstar Trucking to kill Mr Bevan Loftus in order to eliminate him as a competition in the tow truck and drug industries,” he said.

He alleged that bank statements will show that Naiker paid Govender R2.5 million to take out his competitor.

Bevan's father, Gregory, told the commission that the allegations that his son was involved in drugs was a cover up by the police to justify the unsanctioned hit.

Days before the murder, police raided Bevan's residence and charged his father for obstruction. Loftus said two of Bevan's friends were killed that day and the police accused his son for the murders.

“Bevan and I were informed that Clive [Naiker] put up the R2.5 million contract to kill Bevan. On 23 January 2023, Bevan called Naiker and confronted him in this regard,” said Loftus.

Loftus said Captain Varley orchestrated a dispute with Bevan in order to arrest him. He said Captain Varley wanted a motorcycle recovered by one of Bevan's drivers during an accident and stored at his garage yard to be released free of charge.

After resolving the dispute, Bevan then phoned Naiker to confront him about the trouble the latter had been causing for his business with the police and the alleged R2.5 million hit. Loftus played a recording of the call between Bevan and Naiker to the commission.

“...Roadstar, Mr Clive himself. How are you?” said Bevan.

“Yes, who is this here?” said Naiker.

“Lekker, a lot of money, R2.5 m on my head?” said Bevan.

“Who is this here, who is this here, Bevan you, you killed my uncle,” said Naiker.

“Yes: Yes. How can you phone Dane, to tell Dane to set me up?” said Bevan.

“I phoned Dane? I don't even f*%# know who Dane is” said Naiker.

“Yes, I never, ever fought with you, I have no problem with you. But it looks like you are going after me, you are paying Deena Govender,” said Bevan.

“Firstly you've been telling the people I killed Reagan,” said Naiker.

“You want to kill me?” asked Bevan.

“I don't. Are you making allegations against me or are you telling me the facts?” asked Naiker.

“You wanna kill me…the fastest lives the longest,” said Bevan.

Loftus told the commission that Naiker only recognised Bevan during the call when he mentioned the R2.5 million.

“When Bevan accused Mr Clive Naiker of paying Deena Govender to kill him, Mr Clive Naiker did not deny the allegations, “ said Loftus.

Commission Chairperson Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga pushed back against the conclusion that Naiker was aware of the R2.5 million hit. He said Naiker denied knowing Dane during the phone call.

“It doesn't directly deal with the R2.5 m but it's in the context of the R2.5 m,” said Justice Madlanga.

Madlanga said Naiker also denied the allegations that he intended to kill Bevan during the phone call.

The evidence leaders presented a media interview where Naiker commented about his strained relationship with Bevan.

“I have only had two or three conversations with this evil young man. I don't know him. I have been in the towing industry for 14 years and I am chairman of our towing industry association. I have never had a confrontation with Bevan. Earlier this year, Bevan called me saying I wanted to kill him,” said Naiker.

Loftus argued task team commander Govender had harassed his family prior to the murder of his son with plans to assassinate Bevan once in police custody. During a police search at his residence Loftus said he overheard Govender talking to warrant officer Siven Naidoo about how they planned to kill Bevan.

“They would book Bevan out for further investigation, shoot him and Captain Deena Govender would cover it up. The dog unit policeman said he had one more firearm to plant. Captain Govender also said that they were going to sort out the Newlands East boys,” said Loftus.

He said Govender confiscated Bevan's Toyota Hilux Bakkie and the CCTV footage from the hard drive. He said the police were accusing Bevan of shooting at the police outside a local butchery.

“The police removed the CCTV hard drive because it was evidence that Bevan did not leave the premises. It is for this reason that, in my interdict application, I sought the return of the CCTV hard drive that would prove Bevan's innocence and uncover the conspiracy to implicate him falsely,” he said.

Loftus disagreed with former minister of police Bheki Cele's description of Bevan's death when he told the media that it was part of a drug gang “turf war”.

“I disagree with that,” said Loftus.