The Madlanga Commission resumed on Tuesday with evidence leaders pressing Witness F on a growing body of WhatsApp communications that appear to place him squarely at the centre of interactions between Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya and Bedfordview businessman Steve Motsumi.
The exchanges, forwarded messages, call logs, and meeting confirmations, formed the core of a tense post-lunch session in which evidence leaders repeatedly accused the witness of evasiveness, contradictory explanations and the unlawful sharing of police information.
The scrutiny began when senior evidence leader and senior counsel Matthew Chaskalson, returned to a peripheral but still-unresolved aspect of Witness F’s testimony: an alleged arms-deal offer by a man he referred to as the nephew of the former deputy president David Mabuza, Siphiwe Mabuza.
But it was the digital footprint that followed, leading to Motsumi and, ultimately, Sibiya, that quickly dominated proceedings.
Witness F initially reiterated that he never tested the shotguns Mabuza offered and said he “never had a market” to sell them.
Chaskalson challenged this, pointing to earlier testimony that he wanted to “see and test” the weapons.
Witness F insisted he was merely “entertaining this Mabuza guy”, claiming the proposed price made him believe the firearms were lawful.
Commissioner Sesi Baloyi expressed alarm that a police officer would not recognise what appeared to be an illicit gun-selling operation.
Witness F countered that he did not know this was illegal gun selling, that it “looked legit”.
The confrontation escalated when Chaskalson introduced a screenshot Mabuza had sent the witness, a message from a “Gerry Cuzzy”, urgently calling for a meeting with “007”.
Witness F claimed he had no idea who “007” referred to.
“I can confirm that 007 is not my name,” he said.
Chaskalson, however, reminded him that tenderpreneur Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala had referred to him using “00”, which he said symbolised a “licence to kill”.
Witness F laughed and claimed not to know who James Bond was.
Evidence leaders introduced a serious disclosure: Witness F had sent images of a fingerprint-processing application, including photographs of the actual fingerprints, to Motsumi.
He claimed he had done so merely to demonstrate that he was too busy with an ongoing cash-in-transit investigation to join a motorcycle breakfast ride.
Chaskalson dismissed the explanation as implausible, and Baloyi said the timeline, sending the official letter a week after it was drafted, contradicted his version.
“I really want you to tell nothing but the truth, but so far you are not doing that,” she said.
Baloyi pressed him further; asking whether it was lawful to share police information with a civilian, with Witness F replying that he did not view it as unlawful “because it is only unlawful when the information is sent to someone with an interest in the case”.
The core of the afternoon, however, was the detailed WhatsApp chain showing that Witness F forwarded Sibiya’s availability, meeting times, and real-time updates to Motsumi on 5 June 2024.
The chronology shows: a call from Motsumi at 13:51; a message sent by Witness F to Sibiya minutes later asking, “Time for meeting??”; Sibiya’s reply that he was free at 18:00; and Witness F’s message back to Sibiya that “Let me forward to them”, after which he forwarded the details to Motsumi and phoned him again at 15:48.
The chain culminated in Witness F telling Sibiya at 17:42 that “the 18:00 meeting has been confirmed”, followed by multiple updates from Sibiya, who wrote that he was still “with the National Commissioner” and later that he was en route.
These, too, were forwarded to Motsumi.
Despite this, Witness F maintained he was not the organiser of the meeting and did not attend it.
He said he referred to Motsumi as “them” only as a cultural sign of respect.
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo said the chats contradicted him and indicated multiple attendees.
Witness F conceded that others were present but insisted he was not among them.
The evidence leaders then highlighted further instances of information-sharing, including a September 2023 message from Sibiya about the sudden death of Eswatini’s National Commissioner at OR Tambo International Airport, forwarded by Witness F to Pretoria taxi boss Jotham “King Mswazi” Msibi.
He referred to Sibiya as “Number 1.” Baloyi called his explanations “the realm of madness.”
In closing exchanges, Witness F confirmed forwarding messages between Sibiya and Matlala as well, though he denied arranging their meetings.
The commission adjourned with proceedings to respond on Wednesday.
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