Pretoria – A close friend has described the death of Frank Dutton, the lead investigator for the State Capture Commission, as a major blow to the justice system in South Africa.
“I am deeply saddened. We had a conversation this January and had plans to meet after January 17. His death came as quite a shock to me,” leading human rights lawyer and the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa Yasmin Sooka told IOL.
“He did a thorough review for me, of all the cases that we believed would be ready for prosecution by the National Prosecuting Authority. Over the years he investigated the Simelane matter, the Timol matter and also the Cradock Four matter,” she said.
Sooka said now that Dutton had concluded his work at the Zondo-led commission of inquiry into state capture, she was “hoping that he would have a little more time to assist us”.
“So, this is devastating. To hear of his death has deeply, deeply saddened me.
“This is massive loss for the nation as a whole. One of the conversations I was having with Frank is on how to train younger investigators on good investigation techniques. Remember, Frank also came from investigating the political violence in the ’80s,” she said.
Frank Kennan Dutton was born on May 20, 1949 in Bela-Bela in Limpopo. He was South Africa’s pre-eminent and leading detective who solved some of the most important cases in South Africa’s history.
He played leading roles in complex investigations in South Africa and many other countries, including Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Sudan (Darfur), Afghanistan, DRC, Cameroon, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Brazil and East Timor.
Dutton worked for nearly 40 years as a police detective. He was the first commander of the former Directorate of Special Operations (also known as the Scorpions).
In 2012 Frank was awarded the Order of Baobab in Gold by then president Jacob Zuma for his policing work, both locally and abroad.
IOL