Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga again impersonated on WhatsApp

30 May 2024 - 17:32 By TimesLIVE
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. File photo.
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. File photo.
Image: Felix Dlangamandla

The Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) on Thursday said it had alerted authorities to a case of impersonation of Constitutional Court judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga. 

The office said that on Wednesday an unknown person whose WhatsApp page reflects his name as Justice Mbuyiselo Madlanga sent a text message to a senior official of the Electoral Commission of South Africa. It said the text message, sent from a certain cellphone number, was clearly an attempt to impersonate the judge.

“The Office of the Chief Justice wishes to place on record that this text message did not come from justice Madlanga. Justice Madlanga is grateful to the Electoral Commission for alerting him to this impersonation,” the OCJ said. 

The OCJ said on the same day, a text purporting to have been sent by Madlanga from the same number was received by an official of the SABC. 

“The sender was asking for a contact number of a former senior official of the SABC. This text was also not sent by justice Madlanga.” 

This is not the first time Madlanga has been impersonated. 

On August 19 last year, the OCJ issued a statement concerning the impersonation of Madlanga where a different cellphone number was used.

The impersonator was said to extort money from unsuspecting individuals and intimidate private individuals, public officials and public office bearers for a variety of reasons, including attempting to access personal information of certain individuals. 

“Several other judges have been impersonated on various occasions over a long period. The OCJ alerted the relevant authorities so that this unseemly behaviour may be brought to a stop and the culprit or culprits brought to book.” 

TimesLIVE 


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.