6 July: A Year after the Mkhwanazi allegations - Episode 1

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July 6, 2025, began like any other winter’s Sunday in South Africa: a quiet end to a cold weekend, with no indication that the day would soon become a defining moment in the country’s political and criminal justice landscape.

By the end of that Sunday, the national conversation had changed.

A press conference led by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi would send shockwaves through South Africa as he revealed serious allegations of fraud, corruption, money laundering, criminal networks, and alleged political interference within the country’s criminal justice sector.

The revelations marked the beginning of a process that would raise difficult questions about accountability, governance, and public trust in the institutions responsible for protecting South Africans.

One week later, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation, announcing the establishment of what would become widely known as the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

The first public hearings began on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, with the opening session featuring highly anticipated testimony from Mkhwanazi, the man whose allegations had set the inquiry in motion.

In this special limited series, Jacaranda FM Newswatch Newscast Editor Gerda de Sousa speaks to Newswatch journalist Anastasi Mokgobu, who has been covering the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry’s public hearings.

By: Gerda de Sousa & Anastasi Mokgobu
Produced by: Emile Pienaar
Chapters
  • 00:00 One year after the Mkhwanazi allegations
  • 02:33 How Mkhwanazi’s July 2025 press conference unfolded
  • 04:31 Behind the scenes at the Madlanga Commission
  • 04:57 How Madlanga Commission witnesses prepare to testify
  • 08:37 What a typical day at the commission looks like
  • 10:13 Arrests, court cases and possible additional charges
  • 11:47 How the public and university students can attend
  • 12:16 Has the Madlanga Commission been worth it?
  • 14:11 Episode 2: The key figures named at the commission
6 Jul 12AM English South Africa News · Daily News

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