With virtually his last breath, and smoke billowing out of his mouth, top crime intelligence unit officer Captain Carrim Alli spelled out the name of his alleged killer - several times.
This formed part of evidence heard on Thursday in the Pretoria High Court in the trial of two men - Isa Mustapha Mohammed, the man who was allegedly named, and co-accused Marthinus de Bruyn. Both have pleaded not guilty to murdering Alli and setting his body alight.
Some of the first people who came across the burnt Alli along the Wallmannsthal Road said he told them clearly that the man who had attacked him was Isa Mohammed.
"He spelled out the name two or three times to me," Mauritz Kruger testified. Kruger lived on a plot nearby and was one of several people who went to investigate when they saw flames leaping into the air.
Alli, who was set alight after petrol was poured over him, was already "burnt out" when the first people arrived on the scene. He told Kruger he was a captain in the crime intelligence unit and supplied his commander's name and telephone number.
Paramedic Jan Rossouw, who also went to the scene, testified that Alli had 100-percent burns. "He told me Isa Mohammed had done this to him." Rossouw said Alli felt no pain at that stage as all his nerve endings were charred. Smoke was billowing out of his mouth and it was clear that his lungs had been scorched.
Alli's smouldering body was found about 500m from his burning state car, which was riddled with bullet holes. He died a few hours later in hospital.
At the time of his murder Alli was involved in an investigation into a clandestine "black dollar deal", involving "top brass in the police, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to South Africa and an airline owner", said Isa Mohammed's written plea explanation.
He said that in 2003 he worked for the SAPS under the command of Director Nasser Mohammed. "I performed clandestine errands for Nasser Mohammed, dropping off and taking parcels to and from Indian businessman Rashid Ebrahim (owner of Yemeni airlines), Dr Zidaan (Saudi Arabian ambassador to South Africa) and others."
Isa Mohammed submitted that often these pick-ups and drop-offs would be done after hours and the people he often made contact with were Nigerians. "I questioned the legality of my tasks. I was assured by (Nasser) Mohammed that my orders were legitimate, that they had come from 'the top brass' and were 'in the national interest'."
Isa Mohammed said that even after he was transferred to the library at SAPS headquarters he continued with these errands, for which Nasser Mohammed paid him several thousands of rands in cash at a time.
"He disclosed to me that the sealed boxes contained what was colloquially known as 'black dollars'. He explained that governments secretly transported monies in this form. On the face of it, it looked like black paper, but after a chemical process it was exposed as being $100 bills.
Mohammed said he involved his co-accused in a business deal when his commander told him they must start a company through which they would supply goods to the SAPS by manipulating the tender process in order to "fund the black dollars". The company was registered in De Bruyn's name and Isa Mohammed said De Bruyn soon came part of the "inner circle".
Over time he became worried about the clandestine operations and asked Alli to investigate. He accumulated "evidence" such as black dollars and secret recordings he had made and handed these to Alli.
Alli, in the course of his investigation, spoke to SAPS directors Mohammed and Rashid Ebrahim. Mohammed said they were all due to meet on October 2, 2004, the day of the murder on the Wallmannsthal Road.
Shortly after Alli and Isa Mohammed got there, a black BMW with two men - one a Nigerian - arrived. "It became clear they were sent by Nasser Mohammed and Ebrahim to broker some sort of deal with Alli and I."
He said they arranged to meet at a later stage and he left Alli with them and headed home. He said he later heard Alli had burnt to death. "I suspected it was related to our meeting. Alli was involved in many investigations of prominent people. He often boasted he would bring them down and expose them."
De Bruyn's version of events is that Isa Mohammed once told him that "Carrim must be taken out". De Bruyn said he was told to buy a can of petrol, which he gave to his co-accused. He said on the night of the meeting Isa Mohammed phoned him to say "the meeting was successful".