Col­leagues say late Thabo Bester investigators mood changed after receiv­ing a phone call in court

Instead of being thrilled that the state won in the Bloem­fon­tein High Court, a flustered Brig Jack­son Mkhaulesi walked to his police vehicle while still on his phone and drove to the Gov­ern­ment Gar­age where he shot himself in the head.

The cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing the dec­orated, 59-year-old officer’s death are cloaked in mys­tery, but sources close to him said the Free State Organ­ised Crime Unit head had wanted to quit and go on early retire­ment.

“It was sud­den. It came out of nowhere,” said a mem­ber of his unit. “We heard about his pending resig­na­tion, but he later told us that he had resigned and was wait­ing to final­ise everything.”

A crime intel­li­gence officer, who can­not be named, told the Sunday Times that he was in court when Mkhaulesi received the phone call and saw him walk­ing out.

He said it was unusual for Mkhaulesi to attend Magu­du­mana’s hear­ing.

“Mkhaulesi was not in the habit of attend­ing these court appear­ances and I think this was the first time he atten­ded this case. He is the head of organ­ised crime in the province,” the officer said.

“His juni­ors, who have been run­ning around in this mat­ter, are usu­ally the ones who attend court cases in case they need to testify — but he was usu­ally not in attend­ance.”

“His demean­our changed and he walked out of court before jump­ing into his car. He was still on his phone when he drove off.”

From wit­ness accounts, Mkhaulesi appeared to have been on his phone until he reached the Gov­ern­ment Gar­age on Rhodes Avenue — about 5km from the court — where he fatally shot him­self.

Math­ato Mant­sho, an informal trader who works across the road from the gar­age, saw Mkhaulesi in his last moments as he drove past her.

“He first drove in the dir­ec­tion towards the Gov­ern­ment Gar­age before mak­ing a U-turn there at the traffic lights. He drove in the oppos­ite dir­ec­tion while on his phone and passed us again. Moments later, we saw him drive past again, this time in the dir­ec­tion of the Gov­ern­ment Gar­age and parked his vehicle on the side of the road,” said Mat­sho.

She said she was con­fused when she saw a group of secur­ity guards from the gar­age sur­round Mkhaulesi’s vehicle a few minutes after he had parked it.