{"id":44412,"date":"2025-12-08T07:33:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T07:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=44412"},"modified":"2025-12-08T07:33:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T07:33:58","slug":"2025-12-08-justice-minister-kubayi-faces-backlash-after-blaming-media-for-madlanga-commission-witness-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/12\/08\/2025-12-08-justice-minister-kubayi-faces-backlash-after-blaming-media-for-madlanga-commission-witness-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice minister Kubayi faces backlash after blaming media for Madlanga commission witness killing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has faced  backlash after her comments regarding the motive behind the killing of Marius van der Merwe, a witness at the Madlanga commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Van der Merwe, a whistle-blower and former Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) officer, was murdered outside his home on December 5, shortly after his testimony at the commission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Briefing the media at the weekend, Kubayi suggested the live broadcast of Van der Merwe\u2019s testimony could have led to his fatal attack, despite his identity not being disclosed to the public at the time of the broadcast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI do fear for the witnesses,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe reason initially for the proposal that there must be in-camera testimony was informed by the fact there would be risks, and we needed to ensure the risks are extremely minimised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIf you talk to people who work closely with those who come forward as whistle-blowers, they would tell you sometimes because of a person narrating the story publicly, the person involved would know who that person is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Kubayi suggested the best way to protect witnesses is to end public broadcasting of the proceedings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI know we are going to fight with the media, but sometimes it\u2019s necessary, and this is what I\u2019ve asked the Madlanga commission to do, to say let\u2019s review. We agreed because initially that\u2019s what they wanted to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThis is what they have to do, otherwise we will have a commission that doesn\u2019t have people coming forward to testify because they fear for their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Van der Merwe\u2019s identity wasn\u2019t known when he appeared before the Madlanga commission. He was referred to as \u201cWitness D\u201d. However, his voice was not disguised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Kubayi expressed concern that the public knew Witness D who had been fatally shot before it was officially announced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s extremely worrying that media and social media were running that Witness D has been killed. How did they know this person was Witness D? Could be that someone who heard him testify knew about the incident?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Kubayi faced an immediate backlash for her assertion, with critics on social media arguing whistle-blowers are not only killed because they appeared on a public platform. They made reference to other witnesses who have been assassinated for exposing corruption without testifying in public, such as Babita Deokaran.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Deokaran, acting chief financial officer at the Gauteng department of health, was assassinated in August 2021 outside her home after dropping her daughter at school. Her murder followed her uncovering extensive corruption within her department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Others argued the lack of protection for witnesses is the core problem, not the fault of an open and transparent inquiry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont slammed Kubayi\u2019s suggestion that public testimonies lead to the killing of whistle-blowers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThis is absolutely pathetic from a justice minister,\u201d Beaumont said on X. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt is not members of the public who kill whistle-blowers and witnesses, it\u2019s politically connected thugs who operate with impunity and don\u2019t need a TV set to know when their interests are threatened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Veteran broadcaster Redi Tlhabi questioned other murdered whistle-blowers who had broadcast their evidence, emphasising her concern about the minister\u2019s reaction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThese knee-jerk, superficial reactions to complex and deep-rooted issues are not helpful,\u201d Tlhabi said on X. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWhen they come from leaders, they are even more dispiriting because it means their grasp of the problem is fundamentally flawed. Therefore, their solutions will be equally flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Kubayi defended her comments, saying there was no knee-jerk reaction from her side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThere was a reason why the commission wanted in-camera testimony. They understood the risk and wanted to avoid it. We must review the process so the list of killed whistle-blowers doesn\u2019t increase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m duty-bound to reflect when such instances happen and review the process. I am a patriotic South African.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Here are more reactions from X:<\/p>\n<div data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-testid=\"oembed-container\" style=\"width:100%;min-height:150px\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So many whistleblowers have been killed and they have never appeared in any commission.<br \/>The minister is probably to be a simpleton.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Cllr_Welekazi\ud83d\udc9c\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 (@African_Spring) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/African_Spring\/status\/1997357347367264516?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-testid=\"oembed-container\" style=\"width:100%;min-height:150px\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">His identity was hidden, come on now! And it not a wise idea to come to conclusion that his assassination comes as a results of his testimony when we don&#8217;t even have one suspect in custody to map up the motive behind his assassination.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NJABULO NZIMANDE (@njaps12) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njaps12\/status\/1997266421844517046?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-testid=\"oembed-container\" style=\"width:100%;min-height:150px\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Minister, with due respect, your patriotism is irrelevant to the issue at hand. Your response below has absolutely no bearing on the concern being raised: That is &#8211; the premature conclusion of causality between publicly broadcast testimony and an assassination. Barely 24 hours\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/5r9kf8LkcA<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Redi Tlhabi (@RediTlhabi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RediTlhabi\/status\/1997641623472124285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-testid=\"oembed-container\" style=\"width:100%;min-height:150px\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is what you get when you opt for easy answers to solve complex problems. Even if witnesses were to testify incamera, those implicated would know them period. Just arrest these criminals and oppose bail . https:\/\/t.co\/WeUnFJJPWN<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Magasela Mzobe (@MagaselaMzobe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MagaselaMzobe\/status\/1997272766194630894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-testid=\"oembed-container\" style=\"width:100%;min-height:150px\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is quite perplexing.<\/p>\n<p>Based on testimonies alone, whether in camera or broadcasted, accused people can easily identify witnesses.<\/p>\n<p>If indeed Witness D testimony was factual, those who are accused of the murder know exactly who they asked to dump the body. https:\/\/t.co\/MfWMiMd7kn<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matlala Setlhalogile (@Matlala_S) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Matlala_S\/status\/1997299035083096110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">December 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><b>TimesLIVE<\/b><\/p>\n<hr class=\"c-divider\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Justice #minister #Kubayi #faces #backlash #blaming #media #Madlanga #commission #witness #killing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has faced backlash after her comments regarding the motive behind the killing of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44414,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44412\/revisions\/44414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}