Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya reflects on his legacy in the SAPS

IOL News

31-05-2025

Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya on Saturday delivered his last media briefing before retiring from the SAPS.
Image: Ntswe Mokoena/GCIS
Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya spoke fondly of his trials and tribulations, including being the best student of the course in June 1985 during his last media briefing before retiring from the SAPS on 1 June 2025.
The SAPS- Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI-Hawks) held a legacy report briefing for the outgoing National Head in Pretoria on Saturday.
Lebeya reflected on his tenure at the helm of the DPCI from 2018 to 2025 and offered insights into the milestones, challenges, and achievements during his leadership. In his parting shot, Lebeya recommended that part of the improvement plan for the SAPS should include:
Work on capacitation of the DPCI to achieve 100% human resource capacity. Lebeya requested authority's to provide financial resources to achieve this.
Work on the implementation of the remaining provisions of the SAPS Act.
Work on the acquisition of the office accommodation for the personnel.
Continue to work on acquisition of modern tools of trade.
Continue to build the DPCI to be a criminal Investigative elite unit of South Africa.
Lebeya began working in the SAPS at the Sophiatown Police Station on 12 May 1984 and said he aspired to be a mechanical engineer, but his application to the SAPS Benoni Mechanical School was unsuccessful. Over the years he worked at Hillbrow SAPS in Crime Prevention and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the house-breaking and theft unit.
He was later transferred to investigate more serious cases such as murders, robberies, bribery, forgery, uttering and fraud.
Lebeya went on to establish the Johannesburg North Fraud Section which was based at Sandton police station. In January 2000, he was appointed the Provincial Head of Specialised Investigations in Gauteng Province and by November 2000, he was appointed the Provincial Head of Detective Service in Gauteng on the rank of Assistant Commissioner, the current Major General rank.
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In his academic pursuit, Lebeya completed a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and by 2006 was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. Lebeya also pursued a Doctorate degree which was conferred in the field of Law, Doctor of Laws (LLD) in 2012 on the topic of 'Understanding Organised Crime'. One of his crowning moments came in June 2018, when he was appointed as the National Head of the DPCI.
'Part of the style of investigation is to conduct major investigations. In Project-Driven Investigations, we initiated 113 complex projects and successfully concluded 67 which is 75% while others are still pending and others unsuccessful. A total number of 566 arrests were effected,' he said .
Lebeya said he worked on enhancing technological systems and believed that the Digital Forensic Unit is growing with public private partnerships.
'We have established the Forensic Accounting Investigation which has also partnered with business to ensure transferal of skills. Our coordination of work has been enhanced with the operationalisation of the National Priority Crime Investigations and its sub-committees,' Lebeya said.
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