Political parties have intensified calls for the robust protection of whistle-blowers and witnesses after the murder of a witness at the Madlanga commission of inquiry, former Ekurhuleni metro police department EMPD officer Marius van der Merwe, identified as Witness D.
Van der Merwe was shot dead outside his home in Brakpan on Friday, shortly after giving testimony at the commission. His evidence implicated suspended EMPD acting chief Brig Julius Mkhwanazi in the 2022 murder of a robbery suspect in Brakpan. Van der Merwe alleged Mkhwanazi had ordered him to dispose of the body as part of a cover-up.
The EFF strongly condemned the killing, describing it as an attack on the work of the Madlanga commission, intended to halt its investigations.
