GAUTENG – A sophisticated assassination plot against a senior Housing Director has been successfully dismantled by the Hawks’ East Rand Serious Organised Crime Investigation (SOCI) unit. The breakthrough operation led to the arrest of two individuals, including an internal clerk from the Department of Human Settlements, who allegedly orchestrated the hit to cover up widespread RDP housing fraud.
The targeted senior government official had become a primary target for violent syndicates after actively intervening to stop the illegal distribution of state-subsidized RDP houses to unqualified, non-beneficiary individuals. Following a formal complaint lodged by the director in 2024, an intensive investigation was launched. Hawks East Rand SOCI spokespersons noted that the targeted official endured severe intimidation tactics from the hired hitmen, which escalated from telephonic death threats and multiple failed ambushes to an actual shooting incident.
Acting on gathered intelligence, investigators tracked the primary hitman, 49-year-old Thulani Collen Ndwandwe, to Mpumalanga Province. He was apprehended on Thursday, 02 July 2026. A subsequent search of his property revealed a heavily armed arsenal. Authorities confiscated an AK-47 assault rifle, four 9mm handguns, an automatic pump-action shotgun, two .308 high-calibre rifles, and an air rifle. Although Ndwandwe reportedly possesses valid firearm licenses for the weapons, the entire cache and ammunition were seized for urgent ballistic profiling to link them to other potential violent crimes.
The multi-disciplinary manhunt continued the following day, Friday, 03 July 2026. The Hawks’ Digital Forensic Investigation Unit joined the operation at the Alberton Human Settlements Department offices. There, authorities executed an arrest warrant for 48-year-old Tonia Mphemba Hlongwane, an administrative clerk. Investigators identify Hlongwane as the alleged internal mastermind facilitating the assassination plot from within the government department. During the raid, officials confiscated four laptops and seven mobile phones, which are now undergoing comprehensive digital forensic analysis.
Both Ndwandwe and Hlongwane have been slapped with charges of conspiracy to commit murder, in violation of Section 18(2)(a) of the Riotous Assemblies Act 17 of 1956. The Hawks East Rand SOCI spokespersons confirmed that the duo made a brief appearance at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court. They have been remanded in police custody and are slated to return to the same court on 13 July 2026, where a formal bail application will be heard.