Madlanga Commission turns off cameras to hear Witness M ‘sensitive’ evidence
Announcing the ruling on Wednesday, Madlanga said the commission had considered the application and was satisfied that it should be granted.
The public will be shut out of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry for an indefinite period after commission chairperson Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga granted an application for a key witness to testify entirely behind closed doors.
The witness is expected to give highly sensitive evidence relating to a controversial drug bust.
The decision means the commission’s proceedings, which have attracted widespread public interest because of explosive allegations involving senior police officers and crime intelligence officials, will continue in camera until the witness – identified only as Witness M – has completed his testimony.
Announcing the ruling on Wednesday, Madlanga said the commission had considered the application and was satisfied that it should be granted.
All I will do now is just to say the application is granted.
“At this stage we have no idea by when we will be done so I can’t announce when we will resume with the open session. That will be announced by our spokesperson in due course,” Madlanga said before adjourning the public proceedings.
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The blackout follows an application by Witness M – a businessman, who told the commission that giving evidence in public would place his life, his family and his business at risk.
The witness is expected to testify about his alleged involvement in one of the botched drug busts currently under investigation by the commission.
According to papers before the commission, his evidence will deal with the circumstances surrounding his presence at the drug seizure, how information about the shipment was obtained, the surveillance of the consignment and his alleged relationship with law enforcement officials as well as the suspected owners of the drugs.
The commission has previously heard evidence regarding an alleged staged police drug bust in Aeroton, Johannesburg, where Hawks investigators and a traffic officer allegedly fought over the ownership of 751kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of R226 million.
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Individuals who have been charged in connection with the Aeroton drug bust include Gauteng Traffic Police Chief Inspector Samuel Mashaba, SAPS members: Warrant officer Steve Phakula and businessman and alleged police informant Tumelo Nku.
Witness M’s application was not opposed by either the commission’s evidence leaders nor the media
Evidence leader Advocate Teboho Mosikili said there were no grounds to dismiss the security risks alluded to by Witness M.
The request, Mosikili said, was driven by serious security concerns.
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“At the heart of this application, there are serious security and safety concerns for the witness that necessitate that we move for the application to safeguard the interests of the witness, that his testimony be heard totally in camera,”he said.
Witness M told the commissioners that after engaging with the commission he became aware of two vehicles allegedly conducting surveillance outside his home and inside the secure estate where he lives.
These and other happenings around him, Witness M said, suggests that he was being monitored.
“I am humbly requesting permission from the commission to testify in camera and not have the same televised or be heard in public,” Witness M said in his application.
