Judge seeks permission to air classified documents

South Africa's retired Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga has asked the state’s National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (Nicoc) to grant his commission permission to publicly air classified documents that ‘deal with issues relating to the infiltration of the criminal justice system by organised crime syndicates’, reports News24. The Madlanga Commission is probing the infiltration of the justice system by criminals. Arguing before the commission on Wednesday, chief evidence leader Matthew Chaskalson SC said the ‘bulk’ of the evidence that would be given by Nicoc head Dr Ntandazo Sifolo related to ‘several hundred pages of classified documents’. ‘They have been declassified for the limited purpose of their use by the commission. They have not been declassified for public dissemination,’ he added. Sifolo will address documents that reveal whether SA’s intelligence authorities were aware of how certain arms of law enforcement and the justice system were doing the bidding of criminal cartels – and, if they knew about it, what they did to address it. Following strong opposition to Sifolo’s testimony being shrouded in secrecy by amaBhungane, Daily Maverick and News24, Madlanga has now declined to grant the in camera order. Madlanga’s directives effectively force intelligence authorities to justify why exactly their insights and response to the apparent infiltration of SA’s law enforcement and justice system should be secret, particularly given massive public interest in understanding how and why this was allowed to happen. Arguing for the media houses this week, Advocate Ben Winks contended that the classification of documents should not be used as a shield against justifiable scrutiny – and stressed that no real explanation had been provided for wanting a ‘blanket’ order of secrecy over Sifolo’s evidence.