Almost a year on from its inception, the Madlanga Commission's interim reports on damning evidence have resulted in swift consequence management, sending shockwaves through the highest echelons of South Africa's law enforcement — and now, as it resumes hearings today, one of its commissioners has become a target of an escalating campaign of threats and intimidation.
The commission returns to public hearings at 9.30am, a day later than originally scheduled, following a short recess.
But the resumption comes amid a serious new development: Advocates for Transformation (AFT), an association of practising advocates, confirmed last week that its national chairperson, Advocate Myron Dewrance SC, and Advocate Sandile Khumalo SC — one of the two commissioners sitting alongside Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga on the inquiry — are the targets of a sustained campaign of threats and intimidation. AFT described the campaign as “sustained and escalating”.
The messages have come from a number of different cellphone numbers, with the sender claiming to know the targets' locations, workplaces and daily movements. The campaign has since widened beyond the two advocates themselves.
AFT said the reported threats were linked to a separate professional matter involving disciplinary proceedings previously chaired by Khumalo, rather than his work on the commission. The anonymous messages explicitly targeted Dewrance to pressure him over Khumalo's previous disciplinary ruling.
Nevertheless, that a sitting commissioner on a high-stakes public inquiry is facing such targeted threats underscores the seriousness of the threats facing those at the centre of the legal proceedings.
It all began a year ago
What began on July 6, 2025, with KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi publicly accusing his superiors of shielding organised crime syndicates has developed into a major judicial inquiry into alleged criminal and political infiltration of the criminal justice system.
Stemming from Mkhwanazi's allegations, President Cyril Ramaphosa placed Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on special leave and established the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry to probe alleged criminal and political infiltration into the criminal justice system.
Mchunu was placed on special leave after the commission heard evidence concerning his role in the December 31, 2024 letter ordering the disbandment of the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT), amid allegations that the move benefited a criminal network.
Dr Rich Mashimbye, from the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs at Unisa, commended the commission, but said its work has been hamstrung by Stalingrad tactics from key witnesses, including former SAPS Major-General Feroz Khan and controversial businessman Suliman Carrim.
The pair have cited ill-health as the reason they cannot testify. Khan was dismissed from the SAPS this month after he failed to appear for expedited disciplinary proceedings related to allegations raised at the commission, but he is challenging his dismissal. His postponed evidence, delayed under conditions requiring an independent medical assessment, is now set down for 28 September. The commission has said Khan’s evidence is subject to an independent medical assessment.
Mashimbye noted that Ramaphosa's decision to suspend rather than fire Mchunu reflected South Africa's mandate-based system, where executive power flows from the party, making presidential decisions heavily shaped by party loyalties and internal balance of forces.
“Mchunu is a longstanding ally of the president, in the context of political contestations for power within the governing ANC,” he said.
The commission's two interim reports have led to recommendations for further investigation and action against senior police officials, including the suspension of SAPS deputy national commissioner Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya, and have been followed by high-profile prosecutions. The commission itself has made recommendations and referrals; subsequent arrests and prosecutions have been undertaken by law-enforcement authorities.
Sibiya was suspended for allegedly actioning Mchunu's order to transfer 212 dockets of the PKTT from KZN to Gauteng, and for his alleged dealings with alleged members of the "Big Five" cartel, with the commission recommending a criminal investigation against him.
Sibiya has also been linked to alleged tender kingpin Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala, who is at the centre of a SAPS medical services tender advertised for R360 million but awarded for R228m. The commission heard that Sibiya allegedly received impalas from Matlala as a gift after Matlala asked him to intervene over delayed SAPS payments; Sibiya has denied wrongdoing.
Former Organised Crime head Richard Shibiri was dismissed after an internal disciplinary process related to misconduct. The commission heard that he received R70,000 from Matlala, which Shibiri said was a personal loan that he had repaid. The commission questioned his explanation, but no finding of wrongdoing should be implied.
At least 12 senior officers have faced proceedings for fraud and corruption related to the Matlala tender. Suspended SAPS national commissioner General Fannie Masemola faces four counts of allegedly contravening the Public Finance Management Act in connection with the contract.
The NPA not spared
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has also not been spared.
Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) suffered reputational damage when its former head, Advocate Andrea Johnson, came under scrutiny over investigative failures and for shifting blame to junior officials before subsequently resigning. In addition, charges against Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Dumisani Khumalo and senior officers, brought by IDAC over the alleged irregular appointment of civilian Brigadier Dineo Mokwele, were dropped by the NPA following Johnson's testimony.
At the centre of the commission's inquiry is the so-called Big Five cartel, an alleged criminal network identified in evidence before the commission as comprising Steve Motsumi, the late Jothan "Mswazi" Msibi, Ignatius Phehello Mothakathi, Katiso "KT" Molefe and Andrew "Boy" Mthethwa, alias King Nyambose. To date, of the four surviving members, only Molefe has been arrested. He was charged for the murder of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart in April 2024, a hit investigators believe was a case of mistaken identity. He has also been charged in connection with the murders of Oupa John Sefoka, popularly known as DJ Sumbody, his bodyguards Sibusiso Walter Mokoena and Sandile Myeza, and Hector Buthelezi, known as DJ Vintos.
Molefe is currently out on R400,000 bail.
The commission further probed alleged police collusion in drug trafficking, including two busts worth R200m at Durban Harbour and R300m at Aeroton in Johannesburg.
Former Hawks head Major-General Lesetja Senona resigned shortly after being questioned about missing drugs from the Hawks' Port Shepstone offices, while officers in Gauteng were implicated in an attempt to steal the Aeroton consignment.
Retired Hawks head Dr Godfrey Lebeya, giving evidence in the commission's final days before recess, said he did not know where the Port Shepstone cocaine consignment had been stored until after it went missing — directly contradicting Senona's own evidence that he had informed him. Pressed to resolve the contradiction, Lebeya would not say Senona had lied. Shown a photograph recovered from Molefe's phone allegedly identifying the "Big Five", Lebeya said he knew none of the men pictured and had no knowledge of the grouping.
Municipal structures were similarly drawn into the net. The commission heard allegations of irregular Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) contracts implicating suspended Deputy Commissioner Julius Mkhwanazi and former city manager Dr Imogen Mashazi over fitting blue lights to private vehicles linked to Matlala.
The pair were arrested alongside other senior municipal officials. EMPD's Mkhwanazi was separately arrested for the 2022 murder of suspected robber Emmanuel Mbense, whose body was allegedly dumped in a river on his instructions, and for the theft of precious stones worth nearly R15m from a private home in Killarney, Johannesburg.
Murdered Witness D, Marius van der Merwe, had provided testimony to the commission in-camera on Mbense's murder. He was shot dead outside his Brakpan home on December 5, 2025. Wiandre Pretorius, who was implicated in Van der Merwe's testimony over Mbense's death, survived a shooting on February 5, 2026 but later committed suicide.
Security and policing expert Cobus Steenkamp from North-West University described the commission as a conduit that helped expose the alleged criminal network, leading to the arrests, saying it should be credited for its thoroughness and determination in getting to the truth.
Trust remains 'extremely fragile'
However, analysts warn that high-profile arrests have yielded mixed results regarding public trust.
Professor Sethulego Matebesi, political analyst from the Free State University, said while the Zondo Commission into allegations of State Capture made startling revelations, it did not create the visible “theatre of consequences” that is seen with the Madlanga Commission. Yet, he warned that trust remains extremely fragile.
According to him, trust is fragile when the public perceives a pattern where some are arrested while others with equally serious allegations remain in post or are on paid special leave.
“For instance, Senzo Mchunu, as a Cabinet minister with far more serious allegations, his continued status on special leave, with pay, creates a perception of a two-tier accountability system,” he said.
“If voters conclude that arrests are happening mainly where political cost is lower, while top political figures are shielded pending a final report, the selective pattern can indeed erode more trust than it builds.”
Political scientist Roland Henwood from the University of Pretoria echoed this skepticism regarding whether the arrests restore faith in government.
“I think people are asking why it has taken so long and they ask questions: what about the others? We have not seen the leadership in the police taking hard decisions. There are small changes but not at a level that will bring change to the daily life of a man in the street,” he said.
The commission's public evidence is now scheduled to conclude on 2 October, with its final report due to President Ramaphosa on 16 November 2026, pushed back twice from an original deadline of 31 August.