{"id":99072,"date":"2025-07-14T19:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=99072"},"modified":"2025-07-14T19:51:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T17:51:00","slug":"judicial-integrity-under-scrutiny-judges-matter-welcomes-inquiry-into-explosive-kzn-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/judicial-integrity-under-scrutiny-judges-matter-welcomes-inquiry-into-explosive-kzn-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"Judicial Integrity Under Scrutiny: Judges Matter Welcomes Inquiry into Explosive KZN Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read | 14 July 2025 | 19:47 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

\ud83d\udcf7 Mbekezeli Benjamin of Judges Matter urges swift action on explosive judicial allegations, calling the inquiry essential to restoring public trust and protecting the integrity of South Africa\u2019s courts.<\/p><\/div>\n

Calls for accountability have grown louder following explosive allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, implicating members of the judiciary in misconduct. In response, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the formation of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, a move strongly welcomed by the civil society group Judges Matter.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International<\/em>,<\/a> Mbekezeli Benjamin, Research and Advocacy Officer at Judges Matter, emphasised the urgency of addressing judiciary-related claims. “The allegations are quite damaging to the judiciary. The longer they are not dealt with, the more damage there is. It\u2019s better for the judiciary and for the public that these complaints are dealt with as quickly as possible,” he stated.<\/p>\n

The allegations, while vague, cast a wide shadow over the judiciary. Mkhwanazi has not named specific individuals, leaving what Benjamin described as \u201ca cloud of suspicion.\u201d He stressed that confirming or disproving the allegations will serve to either bring necessary disciplinary action or clear the names of those wrongly accused.<\/p>\n

Significantly, Benjamin pushed back against concerns of bias within the inquiry, clarifying that, \u201cIt is certainly not the judiciary investigating itself.\u201d While Justice Madlanga, a senior judge, is part of the commission, Benjamin underscored that the majority are respected legal professionals from outside the bench, including Advocates Sesiba Loy Esi and Sandile Kumalo. \u201cBoth of those lawyers are skilled and I doubt they will be fearful or biased,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On whether the commission has sufficient power to ensure real accountability, Benjamin remained cautiously optimistic. He noted the importance of \u201ca focused inquiry that gets the facts and refers them to the relevant institutions,\u201d referencing the Zondo Commission\u2019s success in holding two judicial officers accountable. \u201cWe have a precedent,\u201d he asserted, adding that if credible evidence is uncovered, \u201cwe will expect that the Judicial Service Commission or the Magistrates Commission will take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the inquiry begins its work, Judges Matter insists that it \u201cmust prioritize claims involving the judiciary to protect its integrity and restore public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up<\/em> <\/a>with Moulana Ibrahim Daya and Mbekezeli Benjamin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read | 14 July 2025 | 19:47 CAT Calls for accountability have grown louder following explosive allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, implicating members of the judiciary in misconduct. In response, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the formation of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, a move strongly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":99073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Mbekezeli-Benjamin.jpg?fit=686%2C386&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pLW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 03:55:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}