The murder of a Madlanga commission witness should sound alarms across the country, especially among those charged with the protection of whistle-blowers.
On Friday, the country woke up to the news that “Witness D”, who has since been identified as a security officer, had been shot dead in the presence of his family.
The murder occurred weeks after his shocking testimony at the inquiry, which is probing criminality and corruption within the criminal justice system. Among his many damning disclosures was that he was asked to dispose of the body of a person who died at the hands of the police several years ago.
Soon after the incident, which took place in Ekurhuleni, he began blowing the whistle. This was in the face of stern warnings that there would be reprisals if he talked.
The commission, chaired by former Constitutional Court justice Mbuyiseni Madlanga, supposedly offered him a protected platform to air more Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department dirty laundry. His identity was concealed as “Witness D”.
Media accounts suggest that a week ago, he made arrangements to reveal all — including his identity — in an eNCA interview. This was after he had received fresh threats to his life.
The interview never happened. He was killed before it could take place.
He is not the only whistle-blower to have lost his life. Babita Deokaran blew the whistle on the grand corruption at Tembisa Hospital. Like Mpho Mafole, Ekurhuleni’s forensic audit chief, and Armand Swart, employee of a Vereeniging engineer linked to a Transnet tender, Deokaran never had the opportunity to testify before the Madlanga commission or the Special Investigating Unit, which probed corruption in the hospital.
Brown Mokgotsi, an alleged political fixer, had his car shot at before his appearance at the commission.
In a parallel investigation being conducted by an ad hoc committee of parliament on the same allegations, two disturbing developments have unfolded. One MP sitting in the committee reported being hijacked during the proceedings, while another expressed fears for her life.
Van der Merwe’s killing raises many troubling questions about the future of the commission’s work. Among pertinent questions is whether the commission — or the department justice, custodian of judicial commissions — had taken sufficient steps to protect witnesses, especially those who wanted their identities to be withheld.
What more, beyond concealing identities, but publicly airing the proceedings, ought to have been done to protect witnesses from reprisal?
Was the commission too rushed to get off the ground after Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s bombshell July 6 press conference and so missed steps to protect witnesses?
It would have been irresponsible of President Cyril Ramaphosa not to follow through to establish a process to verify the serious allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal’s police commissioner.
The Madlanga commission was established after both the Zondo commission into state capture and a high-level panel investigation of the country’s intelligence services. The recommendations from those two probes — many of which remain only partially implemented — offered important lessons on safeguarding information and protecting witnesses.
The intelligence inquiry was completely behind closed doors, while Zondo was a hybrid commission.
While it may be too soon to work out the motive of Van der Merwe’s murder, there is no doubt that it will deter other witnesses from volunteering information.
Placing witnesses in a state-run protection scheme is disruptive to families.
Uniquely, Friday’s murder raises questions about who should protect witnesses when the police are on the accused’s stand.
The commission now has a duty to review its modus operandi to balance the competing interests of transparency and the safety and security of witnesses and the commission’s personnel.
On a broader scale, however, the country has done little to implement laws to protect whistle-blowers. A sense of urgency is required to root out corruption.
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