Gauteng police have opened a murder and attempted murder investigation after a late-night shooting on the R21 in Kempton Park that killed a relative of Feroz Khan, the dismissed deputy head of Crime Intelligence.
The victim, identified in preliminary reports as Preggy Padayachee, was described in the source as Khan’s uncle-in-law and, in earlier reporting, as Khan’s uncle. Padayachee died at the scene on Monday night, while a passenger in the vehicle sustained a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital.
According to preliminary accounts, Padayachee was driving a Fiat on the R21 at about 8 o’clock on Monday night when the vehicle broke down and he called for help. A friend and two others arrived to assist. While they were attending to the car, they came under gunfire.
Police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevuhulwi described how the incident unfolded. “The driver attempted to evade the gunfire but lost control of the vehicle, which collided with a jersey barrier,” she said.
The timing carries weight for Khan, who is expected to testify in a private hearing at the Madlanga Commission on Tuesday. The commission has yet to confirm whether any applications have been received from Khan’s lawyers for the session. Khan is also facing a criminal charge related to his absence at his last scheduled appearance, a detail that underscores the mounting pressure surrounding his appearances and the risks attached to his schedule.
Monday night’s attack is not the first violence connected to Khan’s circle this year. In June, Khan himself came under gunfire near his home in Houghton, just days before his initial testimony before the commission. At the time, Padayachee, speaking as Khan’s uncle, publicly called for justice and said the people responsible for the alleged shooting “must pay”. Khan’s family had gathered at Milpark Hospital after he was shot shortly before 22:00.
What follows is a sequence that places two violent incidents, in June and October, on either side of Khan’s dealings with the Madlanga Commission, with police investigations running in parallel to the commission’s private proceedings. For investigators, the murder and attempted murder case in Kempton Park will turn on establishing who targeted the group attending to the broken-down vehicle, and why. For the commission, the question is whether Khan’s testimony proceeds as scheduled on Tuesday, and whether his lawyers make any applications that could affect that timing.
The source material does not establish any motive linking the Kempton Park shooting to Khan’s commission appearance, and no such connection has been confirmed. What is established is the personal toll: Padayachee dead at the scene, a passenger wounded and hospitalised, and a family that had already been at a hospital bedside in June after an earlier attack on Khan himself.
As of the reporting on 6 October 2026, Gauteng police continue to investigate the murder and attempted murder case, and the Madlanga Commission has not confirmed the status of any applications from Khan’s legal team ahead of his expected private hearing on Tuesday. Whether that hearing proceeds as planned remains the open question of the week.