Interim Madlanga Commission report on Ramaphosa&#x2019s desk, Presidency confirms

President Cyril Ramaphosa received the interim Madlanga Commission report on Wednesday.

GCIS/Supplied

President Cyril Ramaphosa received the interim Madlanga Commission report on Wednesday.The commission,led by retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga,will resume hearings in January.The interim report is confidential,and the final report is expected to be made public after further investigations are completed.President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has confirmed receipt of the interim report of the Madlanga Commission.

“President Ramaphosa will study the interim report while the commission,which is in recess,prepares to hear further testimony from new witnesses or persons who have previously testified,” Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

Ramaphosa established the commission,chaired by retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga,in July after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner,Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi,lifted the lid on allegations relating to the inner workings of the country’s security cluster,including accusations that now-suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu was involved in criminal syndicates,interfered in politically motivated murder investigations,and lied to Parliament while under oath.

Mkwanazi further claimed that Mchunu and now-suspended deputy national commissioner Shadrack Sibiya interfered directly in politically sensitive cases,abruptly dissolved the Political Killings Task Team,and transferred 121 KwaZulu-Natal political murder dockets to Pretoria “without further action”.

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READ | Madlanga Commission’s interim report won’t be made public

He further suggested that WhatsApp messages linked Mchunu to attempted murder-accused tenderpreneur Vusumusi “Cat” Matlala and his associate,Oupa “Brown” Mogotsi,pointing to coordinated attempts to shield suspects.

After the top cop’s explosive media briefing on 6 July,Ramaphosa put Mchunu on special leave and appointed Professor Firoz Cachalia as the police minister,pending the outcome of the inquiry.

Parliament also established an ad hoc committee to investigate the matter.

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On Monday,News24 reported that the Presidency reiterated that while the interim report would not be publicly available,the final one would.

Magwenya said:

The commission will advise the Presidency on areas that are sensitive. The one that the president is going to receive on the 17th of December will not be made available to the public,and the reasoning is quite simple to understand.

“Some had evidence,located in certain specific areas,but not as broad as it was meant to be,so those witnesses are still going to be given a chance to return to the commission and give that evidence. It’s not going to be helpful to then start chewing and debating on something half-baked,” he said.

At both the Madlanga Commission and Parliament’s ad hoc committee,senior police officials,City executives,detectives,and businesspeople produced conflicting,and sometimes incendiary,testimony,putting the broken state of SA’s police on full display.