Madlanga Commission of Inquiry Witness To Testify Behind Closed Doors

• The Madlanga Commission of inquiry's next witness will not be testify in front of cameras after two media houses lost the bid to air the testimony
• News24 and Daily Maverick filed a court interdict on 13 October and the hearings wee postponed due to the application
• The Commission ruled that the hearings will be done in private and the spokesperson gave reasons for the decision

With 10 years’ experience, Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, provided insights into the criminal justice system, crime statistics, commissions of inquiry, and high-profile cases in South Africa at Daily Sun.

PRETORIA, GAUTENG — The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry has ruled that the next witness will testify behind closed doors. This was after News24 and Daily Maverick filed an interdict to air the testimony to the public.

According to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry's spokesperson Jeremy Michaels, the witness will give testimony in a remote location. He said that News24 and Daily Maverick argued for transparency. Michaels added that the media houses agreed that the testimony will be transmitted and broadcast via distorted audio to disguise the voice of the witness. The media houses also ageed that the material that the witness will be testifying for the next two days will be made available in due course. However, the evidence leaders are still pushing for an in-camera testimony for 16 and 17 October 2025.

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Media houses applied to make testimony public

The Commission of Inquiry's public hearings on 13 October were postponed after Daily Maverick and News24 submitted their applications. Their legal teams and the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry presented their heads of arguments before Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Advocate Sesi Baloyi and Advocate Sandile Khumalo. Madlanga ruled in favour of the Commission of Inquiry.

Since the commencement of the public hearings on 17 September, five witnesses testified. These include KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola and the crime intelligence boss General Dumisani Khumalo.

What you need to know about the Madlanga Commission

• The crime intelligence boss Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo exposed politicians who faked their assassination attempts to improve their security
• During Khumalo's testimony, he showed WhatsApp texts which reveal how attempted murder suspect Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala was annoyed that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu cancelled a tender
• Controversial businessman Brown Mogotsi's mesages to Matlala revealed that he announced the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team to him
• The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry's former chief evidence leader Terry Motau requested to resign from the Commission
• The Commission of Inquiry formally implicated Mogotsi and gave him a deadline to respond to the allegations

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Khumalo testifies about the surge of political killings

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Khumalo testified about why political killings increased after the 2021 general election.

He said that political killings surged in 2022 after some councillors refused to accept financial incentives to influence the outcome of votes.

Source: Briefly News