Hearing record
Day 135
An anonymous businessman - 'Witness M' - is granted an unopposed in-camera application, closing the commission's public hearings for several days; his account is said to touch heads of state, drug syndicates and law enforcement.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- Chairperson Madlanga granted businessman 'Witness M' an unopposed application to testify entirely in camera.
- Public hearings were closed for several days as a result; no public evidence was heard.
- Witness M cited serious safety risks - surveillance vehicles, anonymous calls, a fear of being killed, and having moved his family.
- The evidence leaders said his account touches one of the major 2021 cocaine busts and reaches politically exposed people, organised-crime families, drug syndicates, terror organisations and law enforcement.
- Nothing in the ruling is a finding; all matters remain untested.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
Behind closed doors
Chairperson retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga granted an anonymous businessman, referred to only as 'Witness M', an unopposed application 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 evidence leaders indicated Witness M would speak to one of the major 2021 cocaine busts under investigation, and that his account touches 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. No public evidence was heard.
In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)