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Hearing record

Day 70

Suspended Ekurhuleni HR head Linda Gxasheka returned to the stand as the commission continued its City of Ekurhuleni strand, probing irregular contracts and allegations that senior officials were rewarded for shielding EMPD acting chief Julius Mkhwanazi.

Official transcript (PDF) ↗All hearing days
Still from Day 70 of the Madlanga Commission

The day in brief

What you need to know

  • Linda Gxasheka, the City of Ekurhuleni's suspended head of human resources, continued testifying as the commission examined municipal appointments, contracts and disciplinary decisions.
  • Evidence before the commission alleged that Gxasheka and the city's head of legal, Kemi Behari, failed to act against EMPD acting chief Julius Mkhwanazi despite recommendations to do so; both denials and the allegations remain untested findings.
  • Testimony raised claims that officials received irregular salary adjustments reported at around R600,000, allegedly as a reward for protecting Mkhwanazi - an allegation Gxasheka disputes.
  • Gxasheka denied being part of any 'clique' used to shield Mkhwanazi, maintaining she did not know him well.
  • She told the commission she signed Mkhwanazi's suspension letter despite fear, framing it as a matter of duty.
  • Reporting linked the Ekurhuleni strand to a contract said to involve a company connected to the wife of Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, with Gxasheka conceding irregularities in the process; the concession relates to process, not proof of personal wrongdoing.
  • All individuals named remain entitled to the presumption of innocence; none of these allegations has been proven.

Full coverage

The day, in depth

Return to the stand

Gxasheka, Ekurhuleni's suspended HR head, resumed her evidence after an earlier request by her legal team to postpone, which cited late disclosure of documents by the commission's evidence leaders. Outlets reported the matter being rolled over into early March so she could continue. Her testimony forms part of the commission's wider look at the City of Ekurhuleni.

The Mkhwanazi shielding allegations

Central to the questioning was the claim that Gxasheka and legal head Kemi Behari did not act against EMPD acting chief Julius Mkhwanazi despite recommendations. Evidence suggested the pair received irregular salary increases reported at about R600,000, allegedly as a reward. Gxasheka denied belonging to any clique protecting Mkhwanazi and said she barely knew him.

Contract concessions

Sunday World reported that the HR boss conceded irregularities in a contract linked to Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala's wife. Gxasheka's concession went to the regularity of the process rather than any admission of criminal intent on her part. The commission treated the Ekurhuleni contracting environment as part of a broader corruption picture it says it has only begun to scratch.

In their words

Key moments from the record

“Despite the Chief of Police, who has guns and firearms that we don't have, telling us how scared he was of this person, because of my judicial duty, I did sign that suspension letter.”
Linda Gxasheka. Explaining why she signed the letter suspending EMPD acting chief Julius Mkhwanazi despite what she described as fear.

Our analysis

The bottom line

Day 70 kept the commission's lens on local government, a reminder that the Madlanga inquiry's mandate reaches beyond national policing into the municipal machinery where appointments, suspensions and contracts are decided. Gxasheka's evidence matters less for any single admission than for what it exposes about how disciplinary processes against a powerful official can allegedly stall - a pattern the commission appears keen to map rather than to prejudge.

It is worth stressing what the day did and did not establish. A concession that a process was irregular is not a finding that an official acted corruptly, and Gxasheka's denials of the 'clique' and reward allegations stand on the record alongside the claims against her. The R600,000 figure and the Matlala-linked contract are allegations the commission is testing; readers should hold them as such until the evidence is weighed.

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.

In the room & on the record

Counsel, the panel and sources

On the panel

  • Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)

Sources

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