Commission chairperson, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, announced on Tuesday that the inquiry would not sit on Wednesday to allow time for legal disputes to be resolved on whether Thursday’s witness testimony will proceed in-camera (behind closed doors) or remain public.
The inquiry probing corruption within the South African Police Service (SAPS) has been temporarily paused amid urgent security concerns for a key witness known only as Witness X.
The commission that technical difficulties during Tuesday’s session compromised the safety of Witness X, prompting an emergency halt to live testimony.
“We ran into technical difficulties that had the potential of endangering the safety of Witness X,” the commission confirmed in an official statement.
“Transparency cannot be at the risk of endangering a witness’s safety.”
Due to these security threats, the commission abruptly suspended live testimony, with the evidence leader instead reading Witness X’s full statement into the record.
This alternative approach unexpectedly sped up the day’s proceedings, but raised critical questions about transparency and protection.
Witness X was set to provide damning testimony implicating senior officials in SAPS in wide-ranging corruption allegations.
The shift in format signals just how high-risk and sensitive the witness’s revelations may be.
Despite the sudden change, the commission insists that witness protection remains the highest priority.
“The commission values and respects transparency,” Tuesday’s statement continued, “but not at the cost of human life. We must now adopt a different format for how this evidence is presented.”
The commission is expected to resume on Thursday at 9:30am, when Madlanga will issue a formal ruling on whether Witness X’s further testimony will proceed behind closed doors or not.
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