General Senona Claims Prejudice, Lawyers Say Madlanga Commission Failed to Provide Evidence on Time

• Major General Lesetja Senona told the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry that he was unfairly prejudiced by late evidence
• The legal team has argued that they were only given evidence late, leaving them very little time to prepare their defence
• The commission and evidence leaders disputed the legal team's claims, saying some of the evidence was General Senona's own chats

Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has dedicated a decade to reporting on the South African political landscape, crime, and social issues. He spent 10 years working for the Northern Natal Courier before transitioning to online journalism.

GAUTENG - Major General Lesetja Senona believes that the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry is prejudicing him.

General Senona, the head of the Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), voiced his frustration on his third day before the commission. The commission is currently probing allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption within the criminal justice system.

Read also

General Senona confirms forwarding police information to Cat Matlala, doesn't believe he was wrong

General Senona has been grilled for the past two days over his relationship with Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matala, the alleged criminal cartel boss who is currently behind bars. The Hawks head has admitted that he considers Matlala a brother, but denies that he ever sent him classified information or assisted the alleged crime boss in getting a tender from the police.

General’s legal team claims he’s been prejudiced

On 29 January 2026, at the start of his third day appearing before the commission, General Senona asked for an opportunity to address the commissioners. He voiced his frustrations about the time he was given to prepare, saying that some of the evidence was presented to him very late.

General Senona's lawyers said the commission ‘unfairly prejudiced’ the major-general by not providing him with the evidence he needed to answer the accusations. They claimed that he received most of the documents only days before he was due to testify. They also claimed that the commission failed to timeously provide the general with the attachments to the WhatsApp chats between him and Matlala.

The general’s legal team previously claimed that he did not receive a video beforehand, which was used as evidence. They also claimed that some of the WhatsApp chats were redacted (blocked) when they received them, so they weren’t sure what they contained.

Read also

Parliament finalising security issues ahead of Brown Mogotsi's appearance before Ad Hoc Committee

Evidence leaders dispute the legal team’s claims

In response to the allegations, retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga said that he did not get a sense from General Senona or his lawyers that he was not capable of responding.

The legal team was questioned why they only raised the issue on the third day and did not lead with it at the start of his evidence on the first day. Evidence leader Advocate Adila Hassim also noted that a lot of the evidence was forwarded to the general’s team in November 2025, but they didn’t raise issues about not being able to view some of the evidence until now.

She also noted that some of the evidence being disputed was General Senona’s own chats with Matala, and so he would have had knowledge about what it contained beforehand.

Advocate Hassim also explained that the general’s legal team were very late in providing his statement to the commission, which in turn left little time to provide further evidence about the angle they wanted to take.

Read also

Hawks head Senona rejects ‘Big 5 cartel’ allegations at Madlanga Commission

Other stories about Generala Senona's testimony

Briefly News reported that General Senona has made several allegations during his testimony before the commission.

• General Senona denied knowledge of the Big Five cartels, saying he only knew about the Big Five animals.
• The Hawks head admitted that he sent the Political Killings Task Team disbandment letter to Cat Matlala.
• General Senona refused to answer whether his wife was related to Cat Matlala, as they both shared the same surname.

Source: Briefly News