Ramaphosa gives Madlanga Commission until 25 January 2027 for final report

President Cyril Ramaphosa has given the Madlanga Commission until 25 January 2027 to hand in its final report, moving the deadline from 16 November.

The judicial commission of inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system has now been granted its last extension. The commission said the extra time will let it hear outstanding testimony and complete the writing of the report.

Commission spokesperson Jeremy Michels said the extension would allow the inquiry to work through additional evidence, including testimony from experts who have made recommendations related to its terms of reference.

“This extension to the 25th of January 2027 will allow the commission to hear outstanding testimony and write the final report.”

The commission began public hearings on 17 September 2025, and it was already working to a deadline of 16 November before the presidency announced the new date.

Where the inquiry came from

Ramaphosa established the commission in July 2025 after KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made serious allegations about political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system.

That is the mandate the commission has been sitting on ever since: not a general review of policing, but a look at whether the machinery of criminal justice in this country can be bent by political pressure, and by whom.

What the delay means for the people waiting on it

The commission’s findings will land in a system that is already under strain. Prosecutions that South Africans expect to follow from testimony heard in public often wait on the commission’s record, and complainants who laid the groundwork for those allegations are the ones who carry the cost of another two months of waiting.

A report delivered in January 2027 also means the political calendar, not the investigative one, will shape what happens to its recommendations. Parliament rises and returns, the governing party holds its own meetings, and the country moves towards its next set of electoral contests. A commission that reports into that window hands its findings to a government with less room to act on anything difficult.

The commission has not said which witnesses are still to appear, or which expert recommendations remain outstanding. Michels’ statement names the category, not the people.

The state’s record on this inquiry

The commission has run for more than a year of public hearings without a break in its mandate, and the presidency has now granted two extensions rather than allow it to submit a rushed report. That is the right call where the alternative is a document that cannot be defended. A commission that finishes early and finishes thin would have wasted the testimony it has already taken.

The extension is also a reminder that the state does have a functioning mechanism for this kind of work. Commissions of inquiry under the Commissions Act have subpoena powers, they can compel evidence, and they have produced findings that changed how this country is governed. The Madlanga Commission is operating inside that machinery, and it is still operating.

What happens next

The commission must submit its final report by 25 January 2027. Until then, its hearings continue, and the outstanding expert testimony it says it still needs will be taken in public session.

Source: SABC News (website), Ramaphosa extends Madlanga Commission’s final report to January