A witness in a high-profile inquiry into crime and corruption in South Africa’s justice system was gunned down late on Friday, just weeks after implicating a municipal police chief, investigators said.
The judicial commission — led by former Constitutional Court judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga — was set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa to probe explosive allegations by a senior police officer linking politicians to criminal gangs.
The identify of the witness killed on Friday had been a closely guarded secret.
The panel began public hearings in mid-September, and the witness had delivered his evidence behind closed doors last month.
Codenamed Witness D, he had just arrived at his home in a suburb east of Johannesburg at about 8:30 pm (1830 GMT) Friday when he was shot, acting Gauteng police commissioner Fred Kekana told reporters.
“He was about to open the gate when he was shot. The wife was not hurt,” Kekana said, adding that the gunmen fled after firing two rounds.
No arrests have been made, but nearby CCTV cameras captured the suspected getaway vehicle, he added.
Witness D testified in November that suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief, Julius Mkhwanazi, had ordered him to dispose of the body of a suspect who died in police custody in 2022.
Fearing for his life, the former EMPD officer and private security firm owner said he complied with the order and dumped the body in a dam.
The Madlanga commission was set up in July after a provincial police chief accused Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and other senior officials of obstructing investigations, including into politically motivated killings.
The allegations prompted Ramaphosa to suspend Mchunu, who was accused of having helped to dismantle a team probing the murders in order to protect politically connected figures.
Both Mchunu and Mkhwanazi have appeared before the commission and deny wrongdoing.
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, is grappling with entrenched crime and corruption driven by organised networks.
Some 63 people were killed each day between April and September, according to police data.
