Simon Nare
The Madlanga Commission has lined-up dozens of witnesses to testify in the next few months and corroborate or substantiate some of the allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Commission spokesman Jeremy Michaels said on Monday that evidence leaders, investigators, the secretariat, and support had been working during the recess period to prepare for the hearings.
This after the commission chairman, retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, delivered an interim report to President Cyril Ramaphosa from the 2025 hearings, which started in September.
“The commission will continue where it left off in December 2025, hearing evidence from persons who have been implicated in the serious allegations made by Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and many other witnesses who corroborated or substantiated those allegations last year,” Michaels said in a statement.
The inquiry to probe political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system was established by Ramaphosa following explosive allegations made by Mkhwanazi at a press conference in July 2025.
In those allegations — which have since been aired at the commission — Mkhwanazi implicated suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu in wrongdoing, alleging links to underworld figures, among other claims.
Michaels said phase one of the commission was dedicated to establishing what factual foundation there was for the allegations, and it was during this phase that the commission received evidence from witnesses.
“[T]he evidence was not subjected to testing questioning in Phase One. Phase Two provides persons implicated in Phase One an opportunity to respond to the allegations made against them and, where applicable, to make their own allegations,” Michaels said.
“Alongside the responses to the allegations of Lieutenant-General Mkhwanazi and the witnesses supporting him, Phase Two also provides for the ventilation of other issues falling within the Commission’s Terms of Reference but not addressed in Phase One,” he said.
He said phase three will bring Mkhwanazi and other witnesses back to testify again, this time under cross-examination, and to respond to evidence presented in phase two.
“It is important to note that the work of the commission is dynamic and is part of an ongoing process. Issues of crucial significance to the commission’s mandate will be addressed in further hearings even if they do not fall neatly into the three phases,” he said.
Michaels said anyone who wished to provide the commission with further information that falls within the Terms of Reference could do so anonymously and confidentially by contacting the Commission’s hotline on 0800 111 369 or by email at madlangacommission@behonest.co.za.
INSIDE POLITICS