[WATCH] The Madlanga Commission: Meet the legal and investigative team

On Monday, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system - otherwise known as the Madlanga commission of inquiry - held a press briefing to outline its mandate and unveil a high-level team of legal and investigative experts.

President Cyril Ramaphosa established the commission to investigate serious allegations of corruption and collusion within the criminal justice system, raised by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi on July 6th.

Acting deputy Chief Justice, Mbuyiseli Madlanga, was selected to chair it.

During Monday’s briefing, Madlanga introduced his co-commissioners as well as a team of renowned investigators and senior advocates who have been appointed to assist with the inquiry.

So, let’s take a look at who forms part of this team:

Chairperson of the Commission and Acting deputy Chief Justice, Mbuyiseli Madlanga.

Madlanga’s career in the judiciary spans decades. He is the most senior Judge on the constitutional court, after Justice Raymond Zondo.

Here is a summary of his most notable roles across his highly successful career:

In the early 200’s he received a brief to represent South Africa at the International court of justice at the Hague in the Netherlands in the case of the “Legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territory".
He was appointed by former Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel as the chairperson of the Exchange control and income tax amnesty unit, for five years between 2003 and 2008.

This unit was instrumental in facilitating the disclosure of assets worth R68,6 billion, 70% of which had been taken out of the country in contravention of the regulations.

In 2012, Madlanga was appointed as the Chief evidence leader at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry - a position he resigned from the following year in preparation for the role of justice of the Constitutional Court.

On Friday, Madlanga will officially hang up his robes after 17 years on the bench - and having served 12 of those 17 years in the country’s most Apex court.

Madlanga will be flanked by co-commissioners, Advocate Sesi Baloyi and Advocate Sandile Khumalo - both senior counsel who have a long and impressive record in the legal fraternity.

Dr Nolitha Vukuza has been named as the Commission Secretary, with Jeremy Michaels as Commission Spokesperson.

2. Commission Chief Investigator, Dr Peter Goss

One of the most notable names among the team is that of Dr Peter Goss – a seasoned forensic auditor who started his career as a police officer in the late 80s.

He has been appointed as the chief investigator of the commission.

He served as detective warrant officer for six years before leaving Saps in 1995 to join Eskom as a Senior advisor in corporate investigations.
He left Eskom after four years in 1999, having been recruited by a big four auditing firm - the largest in the world at the time.
Most noteably, he was appointed as the Expert forensic auditor in the high-profile prosecution case against former Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi in 2007.

He is part time lecturer at the universities of Johannesburg and Pretoria and runs his own firm which specialises in crisis management, corporate governance and forensics.

3. Chief evidence leader: Advocate Terry Motau

Advocate and senior counsel Terry Motau has been appointed as the Chief evidence leader.

Some of his noteable work:

He was appointed in 2018 to investigate the VBS mutual bank scandal - where he provided a forensic investigation report into the matter.
In 2020 he was appointed to lead a team of lawyers to review all fraud, corruption and irregular expenditure reports at the department of water and sanitation and to ensure that all recommendations were fully implemented.

He recently rejected claims, made by ousted Higher Education Minister, Nobuhle Nkabane that he chaired an independent panel tasked with recommending chairpersons for South Africa’s sector education and training authorities (SETA) board members.

Despite the recent controversy, Motau remains a renowned legal heavyweight in the industry.

Other evidence leaders include:

4. Advocate Matthew Chaskalson

Senior counsel, Advocate Matthew Chaskalson was one of the evidence leaders in the state capture commission. his focus was on the illegal money flows, and his workstream recovered r875 million from global consulting firm McKinsey & co.

Chaskalson later represented the Transnet defined benefit fund to claw back the money lost to Transnet pension through state capture-related corruption by regiments capital. through this litigation, his team managed to recover r639 million on behalf of Transnet pensioners.

5. Advocate Mahlape Sello

Senior counsel, Advocate Mahlape Sello is a practising member of the Johannesburg society of advocates. She is a panellist with the Arbitration foundation of Southern Africa and China-Africa joint arbitration centre. Since 2007 she has been a member of the South African law reform commission.

She was the chairperson of the advertising industry tribunal appeal committee of the advertising standards authority of South Africa (appointed in 2013). She was appointed to the life healthcare board of directors in 2017.

She is also one of the section 89 panel members who found that President Cyril Ramaphosa may have violated the constitution and anti-corruption laws relating to the Phala phala scandal.

6. Advocate Adila Hassim

Renowned Advocate and senior council, Adila Hassim, is someone who South Africans would recognise from a delegation of legal experts who represented South Africa’s genocide case against Israel to the international court of justice in the Hague in 2024.

Hassim has worked extensively on several notable cases in SA, including that of the Limpopo textbooks case - to force the state to deliver outstanding textbooks to schools in that province at the time. The Limpopo department of education had under-delivered nearly 800,000 books to learners. the matter reached the supreme court of appeal in 2015, which ruled against the department in its final judgment.

In 2017, Hassim became lead counsel in the Life Esidimeni arbitration, representing Section27 and the families of the mental healthcare patients who died in the scandal.

Other members of the evidence leader team include:

Advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube;
Advocate Ofentse Motlhasedi and
Advocate Thabang Pooe