Former Cape Town police commander Kolin Govender shook his head in defeat as state prosecutor Louis van Niekerk read out the list of sins that put him in the Cape Town regional court dock this week.

Instead of officers dressed in blue, whom he used to carry out the bidding of alleged Cape Town underworld figure Nafiz Modack and his mother Ruwaida, he was surrounded by heavily armed prison staff.

On Thursday, the Modacks are expected in the same dock for allegedly paying Govender R146,600. In exchange, he offered rewards to officers under his command to recover “missing” vehicles and hand them to Modack...