Hearing record
Day 13
Evidence led by Adv. Matthew Chaskalson SC
The Commission resumed in Pretoria with Witness ICB, whose evidence was taken in camera after the Commission accepted that public disclosure could compromise active investigations and the witness's safety.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Justice Madlanga announced that the day's hearing of the witness would proceed in camera.
- The Commission heard evidence from a protected witness referred to as Witness ICB.
- Evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson explained the closure was needed to protect active police investigations said to be at advanced stages.
- The closed format followed the transparency compromise reached earlier in the week and the Commission's flagging of several protected witnesses.
- Because the session was held in camera, the substantive detail of the testimony was withheld from the public record on the day.
- The move reflected the Commission's stated position that transparency could not come at the cost of endangering witnesses or ongoing investigations.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
In-camera hearing for Witness ICB
Justice Madlanga announced that the Commission would hear the witness, referred to as Witness ICB, in camera. Evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson explained that the closure was necessary to protect police investigations described as being at advanced stages, so that public disclosure could not compromise them. As a result, the substance of the testimony was not aired publicly on the day.
Following the week's compromise
The closed session sat within the framework negotiated earlier in the week after the media challenge, under which the Commission committed to protective measures for a run of sensitive witnesses while releasing what it could to the public. Day 13 was the point at which the fully in-camera end of that spectrum was used, with the public record for the day limited to the fact of the closure and the reasons given for it.
Our analysis
The bottom line
Day 13 tested the compromise struck two days earlier at its outer edge. Where Witness X had been heard through a partial, public-facing arrangement, Witness ICB was heard entirely in camera, and the justification shifted from personal safety alone to the integrity of investigations said to be nearing a critical stage. That is a defensible basis for closure, but it also moves the most consequential evidence beyond public view, leaving observers to trust the Commission's judgement rather than weigh the testimony themselves.
The trade-off is inherent to an inquiry that overlaps with live criminal cases: airing detail prematurely could tip off suspects or taint prosecutions, yet secrecy erodes the public accountability that gives a commission its authority. The Commission's answer, close the door only where it must and say on the record why, is a reasonable middle path, and the promise of later transcript release matters here. Until that material surfaces, Day 13 stands as a procedural marker rather than a substantive one, and nothing heard behind closed doors amounts to a finding against anyone.
Analysis is the archive’s own comment on the public proceedings, grounded in the record above. It weighs the evidence and the process; questions of individual guilt are for the courts and the commission to decide. Everyone named is presumed innocent.
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Counsel, the panel and sources
Evidence led by
- Adv. Matthew Chaskalson SC
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)