Hearing record
Day 136
Evidence led by Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC
Public hearings resume with a World Bank anti-corruption expert exposing how the SAPS lifestyle-audit system barely functions - only five of 823 senior managers audited in a year, and family members left off the disclosure forms.
The day in brief
What you need to know
- World Bank anti-corruption expert Dr Albertus Schoeman testified on the structural weakness of the SAPS financial-disclosure and lifestyle-audit systems.
- No SAPS officials faced lifestyle investigations across the 2021/22 to 2023/24 financial years.
- Only five of 823 senior managers were audited in 2024/25 - and all five were cleared.
- Because disclosure forms exclude family members, assets can be parked in relatives' names and never surface.
- The commission confirmed President Ramaphosa's extension: public evidence to conclude by 2 October 2026, final report by 16 November 2026.
Full coverage
The day, in depth
A lifestyle-audit system that audits almost no one
After the previous day's closed session for 'Witness M', public hearings resumed with Dr Albertus Schoeman, a task-team leader on the World Bank's anti-corruption programme in Southern Africa, dissecting the machinery that is supposed to catch police officers living beyond their means. His numbers were stark: across three financial years (2021/22 to 2023/24) not a single SAPS official faced a lifestyle investigation, and in 2024/25 only five of 823 senior managers were audited - every one of them cleared. The systemic point landed directly on the Feroz Khan wealth evidence the commission had been hearing: a disclosure regime that excludes family members lets assets be hidden in relatives' names, and a lifestyle-audit function that almost never runs cannot catch what it does not look for.
The clock, formally reset
The commission used the day to confirm that President Cyril Ramaphosa had extended its deadlines: public evidence would now conclude by 2 October 2026 and the final report was due by 16 November 2026.
In the room & on the record
Counsel, the panel and sources
Evidence led by
- Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC
On the panel
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga (chairperson)