Madlanga Commission | Carrim ordered to testify in person next month

The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry has postponed North West businessman, Suliman Carrim’s, testimony to 14 August.

The commission says Carrim will only be excused if he undergoes an independent medical examination, with a report submitted to the commission by the 12 August confirming whether he is fit to testify.

Carrim has missed several scheduled appearances before the commission, citing an undisclosed illness.

The commission has postponed Carrim’s testimony several times after he was reportedly admitted to hospital in April following a suspected heart attack.

The controversial North West businessman will be required to attend the commission in person.

Commission chair, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, has also suggested that suspended police commissioner, Fannie Masemola, could have been wrongly grouped with officials accused of aiding the alleged unlawful R360 million SAPS Medicare24 tender linked to alleged underworld figure, Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala.

This follows Madlanga’s assessment of the Public Finance Management Act and his questioning of former Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) head, Senior Advocate Andrea Johnson, over how Masemola allegedly contravened the Act.

Masemola faces four charges of contravening Section 38 of the Public Finance Management Act, alongside 16 co-accused, including Matlala, who face charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering.

Johnson maintains that Masemola failed to stop the contract in time.

A response Justice Madlanga, appeared to struggle to reconcile.

“In what way, as General Masemola, based on the PFMA charges, committed those PFMA charges at the same place and at the same time as the commission of the fraud and corruption? Surely that cannot be suggested, I do not think. Same place, same time, about the same place, same time, as the commission of the fraud and corruption? Not by any stretch of imagination, I do not think, ” questioned Madlanga.

The commission also put Johnson under intense questioning over a controversial restriction preventing Crime Intelligence head, General Dumisani Khumalo and other officials, from entering Crime Intelligence offices anywhere in the country.

The commission heard that Khumalo and his six co-accused were subjected to the restriction as part of their bail conditions after being arrested on fraud and corruption charges in June last year.

It further heard that the restriction did not form part of the prosecution’s bail order, raising questions about where it originated.

Johnson insists she understood the restriction to apply only to Crime Intelligence headquarters.

“From my recollection Commissioner Baloyi, the condition that I recollect is that the accused, uhm, they raised the issue of the witnesses and that the witnesses being at the head offices and that there was condition that the accused would not be allowed to go the head office and that should they want to go there, they would contact Mr. Padayachee,” said Johnson.

Meanwhile, Activists and Citizens Forum says Justice Madlanga’s suggestion that Masemola may have been wrongly grouped with the other accused vindicates what it has been saying all along.

In April, the civic movement warned President Cyril Ramaphosa against calls to suspend Masemola, saying these were driven by people seeking to surrender South Africa to criminal syndicates and drug cartels.

Activists and Citizens Forum spokesperson, Dennis Bloem, says the move was a deliberate strategy by IDAC to advance its ulterior motives.

Written by: Odirile Rabalao