By Simon Nare
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system will no longer go ahead on September 1 owing to delays in securing ‘essential infrastructure’.
The commission, established by President Cyril Ramaphosa to look into allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, announced on Tuesday that it would not be able to start next Monday because the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has not secured a hearing venue as promised.
The department had previously undertaken to secure a venue, but it has since emerged that it has failed to fulfill this commitment to the commission.
The inquiry was initially expected to take place in Pretoria at the Brigitte Mabandla Justice College, a public-sector law school in the city center, not far from the Union Buildings.
“Unfortunately, those commitments have not been met. As a result, it has since become clear that the Commission will not be able to start the hearings as scheduled,” it said.
“But for the lack of the requirements that the Department has failed to procure, the Commission would otherwise have been ready to commence the hearings on 1 September 2025.”
In a statement, the commission described the department’s failure to honour its undertaking as “regrettable,” saying it had left chairperson and recently retired Constitutional Court judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga with no option but to postpone the hearings.
“What is most regrettable is that a substantial portion of the three-month period—at the end of which the commission is expected to submit an interim report—has passed without a single witness being heard. This is not of the commission’s making,” it said.
The commission added that a new starting date would only be determined once the department had secured all necessary infrastructure.
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