The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into criminality, political interference, and corruption in the criminal justice system has decided to stop the remote testimony of Witness X in order not to endanger his safety.
This ruling was delivered on Tuesday afternoon around 12:30pm by the commission’s chairperson, retired Constitutional Court judge Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, after the commission had ruled earlier in the day that Witness X will testify anonymously at a remote location, off-camera and through an intermediary (without his voice being heard).
“We ran into technical difficulties that had the potential of endangering the safety of Witness X. As a result, we have decided to stop proceeding in accordance with the ruling made by agreement this morning. This decision has not been taken lightly because this commission values and respects transparency.
“Transparency is not transparency for transparency’s sake. It is about the interest that the public has in matters that affect them. And this interest is founded in our constitutional values of accountability, responsiveness, and openness. So, we share any possible concerns that the public may have about the ruling that we are about to make,” said Justice Madlanga.
“Transparency cannot be at the risk of endangering the safety of Witness X. Thus, we must adopt a different format on how Witness X’s evidence must be tendered. In due course, the Commission will decide on how and when questions may be asked with regard to the testimony.
“In sum, the Commission makes the following ruling: The evidence of Witness X will be tendered in a different format. The evidence leader that was leading Witness X will read Witness X’s statement into the record.”
Earlier ruling
Earlier on Tuesday morning, Madlanga ruled that Witness X will testify on the day – extending to Wednesday in a partially closed session remotely, off-camera, and their original voice will not be heard.
Media houses News24 and Daily Maverick opposed the evidence leaders’ in-camera testimony application of five witnesses. The media houses are represented by lawyer Charl du Plessis.
The commission’s chief evidence leader Adv Matthew Chaskalson SC, and du Plessis reached an agreement that led to Madlanga’s earlier Tuesday morning ruling of allowing remote testimony.
The witness – Mr X’s testimony was led by evidence leader Adv Adila Hassim SC, and the intermediary evidence was led by Adv Thabang Pooe.
Due to Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo falling ill, Witness X said he would continue from where Khumalo left off with his testimony on September 30.
Khumalo is the South African Police Service (SAPS) national head of crime intelligence and project leader of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) SAPS political killings task team.
Witness X was taking the commission through the WhatsApp chats between alleged drug cartel member Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala and KZN Hawks head Maj-Gen Lesetja Senona.
Witness X said the chats reveal that there is a beneficial relationship between Matlala and Senona. He said Senona has an interest in protecting Matlala. He said Senona has shared institutional and confidential police information with Matlala.
They said said the chats took place between December 22 2024 and May 14 2025.
While he was testifying, at around 10:30am Chaskalson said there is a problem with the technical feed and asked Justice Madlanga to adjourn for five minutes so that the problem could be sorted out.
Lunch time decision
When proceedings resumed at 12:30pm, Madlanga handed the new ruling, saying Witness X’s remote testimony will be stopped and Hassim will read his statement into the record.
The commission, whose open proceedings are taking place at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College in Pretoria, is currently continuing with Hassim reading Witness X’s statement into the record.
The commission was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa on July 13 after KZN police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s explosive media briefing on July 6 where he said politicians in parliament, police officers, metro police officers, correctional service officials, prosecutors, and members of the judiciary in Gauteng are part of a criminal syndicate in Gauteng, and they are controlled by drug cartels and business people in Gauteng.
