South Africa: Madlanga Commission Gets More Time to Root Out Corruption

President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the deadline for the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry to submit its final report. The commission was due to report by 31 August 2026. It will now submit its report on Monday, 16 November 2026.

The Presidency announced the extension on Thursday, 9 July 2026. Ramaphosa also set a new deadline of Friday, 2 October 2026, for the commission to finish hearing evidence. The extension was granted to allow the commission to complete its work on all matters listed in its terms of reference. Without it, the Presidency said, large parts of the commission’s work would have been left unfinished.

This is the third time the commission’s deadline has moved since it was set up in July 2025. Its first deadline was pushed to March this year, then to 31 August.

The commission has repeatedly said it is under pressure, with a long list of witnesses still to appear. This week alone, the commission postponed testimony from businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala, and separately saw four Ekurhuleni officials arrested over evidence that first surfaced in its hearings.

Ramaphosa thanked the commission for its work and praised how law enforcement agencies have acted on evidence that has come out of its hearings so far.

For now, the commission’s evidence deadline of 2 October is the date to watch. That is when the flow of new testimony from the commission is expected to stop, ahead of the final report landing more than six weeks later.

By Scrolla.