Hearing record
Day 135
Day 135, 8 July 2026. Chairperson retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga granted an unopposed application by an anonymous businessman, referred to only as 'Witness M', to testify entirely in camera, closing the commission's public hearings for several days. Witness M had asked for his evidence to be heard behind closed doors citing serious risks to his safety - surveillance vehicles outside his home, anonymous phone calls and a fear of being killed, saying he had moved his family - and the commission accepted the risk was real; media houses did not oppose the application. The evidence leaders indicated Witness M would speak to one of the major 2021 cocaine busts under investigation, and that his account touches on politically exposed individuals, organised-crime families, drug syndicates, terrorist organisations and law-enforcement officers. Madlanga said the commission could not say how long the closed session would run - 'At this stage, we have no idea by when it will be done; I can't announce that we will resume in open session' - and adjourned. No public evidence was heard. Nothing in the ruling is a finding; all matters remain untested and anyone who may be named is presumed innocent.
