‘Be very careful’: Madlanga slams ‘nebulous’ claims of commission leaks after Khan’s shooting

The chair of the Madlanga commission of inquiry, Mbuyiseli Madlanga, has issued a warning to the legal team of suspended crime intelligence deputy head Maj-Gen Feroz Khan, telling them to stop making speculative media statements that taint the commission’s integrity.

This follows an incident on Sunday evening in which Khan was shot. After the shooting, Khan’s legal team gave an interview to Newzroom Afrika, making speculative accusations and suggesting that Khan was targeted because of an internal leak in the commission.

Khan’s legal representative, Zubair Khan, referenced the murder of “Witness D” (identified as Marius van der Merwe). Van der Merwe was gunned down outside his home in Brakpan, Ekurhuleni, shortly after testifying before the commission. Zubair suggested that a similar leak in the commission may have led to Khan’s shooting.

Defending his statements, Zubair argued that he was merely relaying the concerns of Khan’s family and sharing what he had personally observed the morning after the shooting.

According to Zubair, members of various law enforcement units had attempted to gain access to Khan in the hospital to confirm the severity of his condition. He claimed that when he arrived at the hospital on Monday morning, individuals at the reception area claimed to be from the Madlanga commission and demanded to interview Khan.

However, Madlanga firmly denied this, saying that neither he nor any senior members of the commission had issued a directive to send personnel to check on Khan. He emphasised that the commission knew absolutely nothing about the matter.

“It’s quite serious because it suggests the possibility that some people may have gone to the hospital and wrongly presented themselves as coming from the commission,” Madlanga said, questioning why the legal team would recklessly make such public allegations.

“There is no way that I or the commission would ever send police to go check on anybody in hospital. I find it strange that you could go out to the media and claim there was a directive from the commission based on something so nebulous. How you could do that ... it just escapes me altogether. How could you say something so nebulous for the whole of South Africa to hear?”

Madlanga warned that such statements send a dangerous and damaging message about the inquiry.

“This is not only about what you intended to convey, but it is also about how reasonable listeners would have understood it,” Madlanga said. “You said this in the context of Khan being shot and you mentioned leaks. I understood you to mean leaks from or by the commission, linking back to the context of the shooting.”

Madlanga further questioned the timing between Sunday evening’s shooting and the moment Khan’s legal team filed an application to have his testimony heard in camera (in private).

He referenced an X post by eNCA reporter Pule Letshwiti-Jones, who noted that he arrived at the crime scene at 11.18pm, and was told the shooting occurred just after 11pm. This places the incident shortly before 11.30pm while the legal application was officially served at 11.04pm.

“All of that, when you look at it holistically, suggests we were served late that night, and he was shot just after the documents were served,” Madlanga said.

Zubair responded by clarifying that this implication was not what he intended to communicate, claiming he had received the information regarding the visitors from police officers present at the hospital.

Nevertheless, Madlanga concluded with a final warning, urging the legal team to exercise extreme caution when speaking to the press so as not to impugn the inquiry’s integrity.

“You should be very careful about that,” Madlanga warned.

Zubair subsequently apologised to the commission.

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