Madlanga Commission | 'Witness J' testimony to be heard fully in-camera

[00:00:00]So the auditorium of the Bridget Mabandla Justice College is uncharacteristically quieter than it usually is around this time. That's because the Madlala Commission is continuing but behind closed doors.

[00:00:11]Let's get you a sense of why that is the case with our senior reporter Kenny Maphanga who's been helping us connect the dots so to speak. Kenny, good to see you as always. We had been primed if you like for this postponement application for an individual we can only identify as witness J. What are some of the reasons advanced by this witness around why they don't want to be identifiable to the public?

[00:00:32]>> Indeed. Well, good morning to you Andile and to the viewers at home. Essentially this application is a bit easier because we do see that the media was able to find some form of a compromise with the evidence leaders which is that the redacted transcript will be given to the media by Monday. So it means that we will get a bit of the evidence but not in totality. It's quite important because it relates to Dumelang Khumalo that witness J is that analyst that the commission was asking about when uh Lieutenant Colonel Sebulelo of the Hawks returned to the commission and presented all those slides on the messaging or rather how he reached the conclusion or suspected that these particular suspects were allegedly dealing in drugs when they pounced on the Ayrton drug bust.

[00:01:16]And it was all through the Treema messaging as well as WhatsApp messaging of Dumelang Khumalo who you saw take the stand a bit later. It's all about his electronic communications and it seems that what this analyst is going to present goes far beyond the Ayrton drug bust which is very important because it gives you an understanding of the kind of networks, the extent of the networks and what that digital footprint will tell us about their links, uh the alleged drug trafficking that may be taking place and which entities and which alleged criminal networks apply to this particular movement of drugs because at the very least what we've seen so far in the advancements of the Ayrton drug bust evidence is that Dumelang Khumalo is not someone you can merely reduce to an informant. This is clearly someone who's allegedly quite intimately involved in at least the importation as well as the transportation of drugs allegedly because it seems that from the Zuma messaging throughout the Errol Fine drug bust he seems to be communicating with an alpha about these drugs and about getting them to the intended location. If you look at other operations that he allegedly conducted with Mashaba or Tambo, it seems he's communicating that someone won't make it on a flight and therefore they need to call off all the stops that they made at OR Tambo. And if you look at the line of the evidence and the line of questioning, it implies that that also could have dealt with something that he seemingly finds himself in a pattern of which is allegedly this importation and the movement of drugs within South Africa. So this is very important analysis. I don't know how much of it will get, but it's quite clear that witness J feels that if he gives this testimony in public, it exposes him to great risk, not only him but his family as well because he's now going into the very networks that exist that go far beyond the Errol Fine drug bust.

[00:03:07]>> Yeah, in fact he speaks about Dumelang Khoza having a played an important role.

[00:03:11]That's the evidence he's found so far, at least that's as contained in his affidavit. It comes as no surprise then Kenny that the commission has also moved to move Dumelang Khoza's testimony so that they have enough time with him when they can eventually get around to having his testimony.

[00:03:25]>> Indeed, I think it's better to hear from the analyst himself about what those messages or the Zuma messaging tells them about the alleged drug trafficking trade and how Dumelang Khoza fits into the picture. Once you can establish who this Dumelang Khoza is, you'll get a better understanding of the Errol Fine drug bust and why all of the actions of Mashaba, Makhane, Pakula, witness I just didn't make sense in terms of what is expected in terms of dealing with narcotics. You'll get a better understanding as to what really the intention was behind the actions there and whether or not they are allegedly part of this alleged criminal network that requires the help of law enforcement officials in order to successfully get those drugs where they need to be.

[00:04:08]>> Absolutely. Karima Brown Girl, thanks very much indeed. We'll certainly have to wait and see how it all unfolds. Once again, the media is expected to have access to that redacted transcript from witness J. That's expected around the 22nd of June. And hopefully once we're able to get our hands on that, we'll also continue this exercise of connecting the dots to understand why these busts, as they say, unfolded in such a bizarre way. Right here from the Britain Mohlala Justice College.