State Capture Commission - money flows
Led the illicit-money-flows workstream at the Zondo Commission; recovered R875m from McKinsey and R639m for Transnet pensioners.
Chief Evidence Leader · Madlanga Commission
Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC
Chief Evidence Leader · Johannesburg
Chief Evidence Leader
Matthew Chaskalson SC, born on 12 August 1963, is the Chief Evidence Leader of the Madlanga Commission, taking charge of the evidence team in late 2025 after Terry Motau SC resigned. The son of Arthur Chaskalson - the first President of the Constitutional Court and a former Chief Justice - he read law at the University of the Witwatersrand, taking a BA (1985) and LLB (1990) and lecturing in delict and constitutional law at Wits before and after his call to the Bar.
Admitted to the Johannesburg Bar in 1994, he headed the Constitutional Law Project at Wits' Centre for Applied Legal Studies, took silk around 2009-2010, and was a founding member of the Victoria Mxenge Group of Advocates in 2011. He acted as a Justice of the Constitutional Court in 2023-24 and is a co-author of Constitutional Law of South Africa, the standard treatise.
At the State Capture (Zondo) Commission he led the evidence on illicit money flows - work that recovered R875 million from McKinsey and R639 million for Transnet pensioners in litigation against Regiments Capital.
This profile summarises publicly reported biographical and role information about a member of the Madlanga Commission. It is not a finding of the Commission, nor an allegation against any person. Soft or contested claims are attributed; unverified details are omitted.
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Background
Education & admission
- BA, University of the Witwatersrand (1985)
- LLB, University of the Witwatersrand (1990)
- Admitted to the Johannesburg Bar (1994); took silk c. 2009-2010
On the record
Notable matters & judgments
Constitutional Law of South Africa
Co-author of the standard South African constitutional-law treatise.
Landmark constitutional litigation
Counsel in cases including Daniels v Campbell (Muslim widows' inheritance) and Bhe v Magistrate, Khayelitsha (customary succession).
Acting Justice, Constitutional Court (2023-24)
Sat as an Acting Justice of the Constitutional Court before joining anti-corruption work with the NPA.