The Hawks have denied sending “suspects” back to Zimbabwe to die.
“At no point did any of our members render people to Zimbabwe,” Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said on Sunday.
He was referring to a Sunday Times article which reported that South Africa was conducting renditions - the illegal kidnapping and transfer of prisoners from one country to another.
According to the newspaper, intelligence reports listed the deaths of at least three “suspects” as a result of renditions.
McIntosh also denied that the newspaper's claim that it had been in contact with Hawks' boss Anwa Dramat.
“He (Dramat) never spoke to the Sunday Times. I was the one who sent a response to the Sunday Times. Anwa Dramat, as you know, doesn't speak to the media,” he said.
In the article, the newspaper reported that Dramat claimed three people identified by the Sunday Times as having been “renditioned” were in fact properly deported.
McIntosh said the Hawks did not follow up on what happened to illegal immigrants after deportation.
“If they do not have papers, we then hand them over to immigration authorities at Beit Bridge. We don't have a mandate to be checking up on everybody that is deported,” he said. - Sapa