Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, then Acting Deputy Chief Justice, at the Constitutional Court’s 30th anniversary — 20 June 2025. He now chairs the
Commission of Inquiry into the criminal-justice system.
The Magistrates’ Commission
The Magistrates’ Commission is the statutory body under the Magistrates Act 90 of 1993. It is consulted on appointments. It receives complaints. It is the proper file for discipline. It is not a WhatsApp group and it is not the evening news. Issue 01 said retirement does not close the book. That remains JASA policy. We do not try colleagues in this newsletter. We also do not accept that walking off the roll ends the Commission’s reach. Accountability is a file, a hearing and a right to be heard.
The Madlanga Commission
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System — the Madlanga Commission — was announced in July 2025 after allegations made by Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. It is chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. Hearings began on 17 September 2025. A first interim report went to the President on 17 December 2025; a second on 29 May 2026. The President publicly noted the second interim report on 6 August 2026. The final report is now due on 16 November 2026. Day 167 and Day 168 of the hearings sat in the last week of August.
The mandate includes alleged infiltration of the police, the prosecuting authority, intelligence services and elements of the judiciary. That last phrase is why this newsletter mentions the Commission at all. It is not why this newsletter comments on any witness. Every person named before the Commission is presumed innocent. Findings belong to the Commission and then to the President. They do not belong on a magistrates’ group chat.
What a magistrate does while a commission sits
Keep the SARFU recusal test on the blotter: would a reasonable, objective and informed person reasonably apprehend bias? If a matter on your roll has been on the live feed, consider the test before you consider the merits. Leave live witnesses and live colleagues off the group chat. The criminal-justice system still has to sit on Monday.