By Johnathan Paoli
The Madlanga Commission adjourned on Wednesday morning after the next scheduled witness, a Crime Intelligence officer, sought a postponement on medical grounds.
Chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson told the commission that there were concerns about the postponement application, which was supported by a medical certificate that was “practically illegible and doesn’t say a great deal to the extent that we can work out what it says”.
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Chaskalson said of the witness that he “handles agents and informants, and because he handles agents and informants, I’d ask that we don’t mention his name at this stage”.
“While we’re not suggesting that this application [for postponement] is not bona fide, it is a concern because there are repeated cases of witnesses who are called to testify and who are unable or who postpone on grounds of health,” he said.
He added that it remains important that postponements are properly motivated.
Chaskalson requested that the commission stand the matter down for a day to allow the witness’s legal team to produce a clearer and better motivated medical certificate.
The witness’s legal representative, Attorney Tshepo Matlala, confirmed that he and his colleague had conferred with Chaskalson before proceedings started.
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“We did agree in principle that we would endeavour to procure an acceptable medical certificate for the purposes of the postponement application,” Matlala told the commission.
Commissioner Chairperson retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga said that an affidavit from the witness himself may be necessary.
“If the witness is not so ill as not to be able to depose an affidavit, I think it would be the proper thing for him to do, to actually also depose an affidavit in addition to the medical certificate,” he said.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi raised concerns about the standard of medical certificates submitted to the commission and suggested stricter measures may be necessary if the issue persists.
“The letter we’ve got this morning is unacceptable. It says nothing about the condition of the patient. It doesn’t tell us ‘we have examined this patient’… and that this is their opinion that he cannot come and appear before us,” Baloyi said.
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She said that, in future, the commission might consider calling the doctor who issued the certificate to testify, or even compelling a witness to attend if satisfactory proof of illness is not provided.
Chaskalson said the evidence team would consider those options if the problem recurred.
The commission is expected to resume on Thursday morning.
