Judges Matter has urged Gauteng Acting Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba and Pretoria Chief Magistrate Vusimuzi Mahlangu to take special leave, after they were both implicated in testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

‘Judges Matter notes with great concern the allegations made against judicial officers by several witnesses at the Madlanga Commission,’ the judicial watchdog said on Friday, according to News24.

‘We urge these witnesses to provide substantiating information so that the commission statements can be dealt with as formal complaints to the Judicial Service Commission and the Magistrates' Commission, respectively. In the meantime, and for the sake of the integrity of the judiciary, we would urge Acting Judge (President) Aubrey Ledwaba and Chief Magistrate Vusi Mahlangu to go on special leave while such complaints are lodged.’

Last week, secret witnesses – identified only as Witness A and Witness B – told the commission that an informer had claimed R2.5m had been set aside to secure murder-accused Katiso Molefe’s release on bail. The witness could not say whether the money was intended for Ledwaba – who presided over Molefe’s successful bail appeal in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) – or the prosecutor.

However, he laid into Ledwaba’s decision to grant Molefe R100 000 bail, just an hour after hearing the appeal.

Mahlangu, meanwhile, has been criticised for the order he handed down when granting graft-accused Crime Intelligence boss Lieutenant-General Dumsiani Khumalo and others bail, in which he ruled that they could not enter any CI offices in the country pending the finalisation of the matter. No evidence has yet been presented to substantiate these claims.

As previously reported, the Office of the Chief Justice said Ledwaba ‘strenuously denies receiving any money to grant Mr Molefe bail’. 

The report made clear that Chief Justice Mandisa Maya had discussed the possibility of taking special leave with Ledwaba but that he had opted against this and that he was ‘seeking legal advice and expressed a wish to be afforded an opportunity to give his side of the story’ at the commission.

In the News24 report, Judges Matter stressed that ‘at this stage, neither the JSC nor the Magistrates Commission can deal with the allegations made until formal misconduct complaints under oath are filed’.

‘The statements to the Madlanga Commission do not yet meet the threshold to trigger the investigatory processes of both commissions unless they are substantiated,’ the organisation said. 

Full News24 report