- Evidence leaders gather, present and test evidence before the Commission but do not decide its findings or outcome.
- Chief Evidence Leader Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC leads a team of six, guiding witnesses and placing documentary evidence before the panel.
- Their choices about which witnesses to call, the order of testimony and the evidence put on record play a major role in shaping the inquiry.
The evidence leaders at the Madlanga Commission play a crucial role in an inquiry that has now spanned 159 days of testimony. They are the legal team tasked with gathering and presenting evidence, questioning witnesses and guiding the commission through the various cases before it.
Their role is not to decide whether allegations have been proved. That responsibility belongs to Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and the commissioners, who will ultimately assess the evidence and make the Commission’s findings.
In practice, the evidence leaders have significant influence over how the evidence reaches the panel. They guide witnesses through sworn statements, introduce supporting exhibits and test accounts against documents and other evidence before the Commission.
This material can include phone downloads, bank records, official documents, statements and other exhibits. When evidence conflicts, or a witness gives an account that needs further testing, the evidence leaders put those issues directly to the witness.
They also decide which witnesses should be called, the order in which they testify and which documentary material forms part of the Commission’s record. Their work shapes the evidentiary narrative that Justice Madlanga and the commissioners will eventually have to assess.
Chaskalson leads the evidence team
Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC is the Chief Evidence Leader and heads the Commission’s evidence team. He took charge in late 2025 after Advocate Terry Motau SC resigned.
Chaskalson was born on 12 August 1963. He is the son of Arthur Chaskalson, the first President of the Constitutional Court and former Chief Justice. He studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand, earning a BA in 1985 and an LLB in 1990, and lectured in delict and constitutional law at Wits before and after his admission to the Bar.
He was admitted to the Johannesburg Bar in 1994 and later headed the Constitutional Law Project at Wits’ Centre for Applied Legal Studies. He became Senior Counsel around 2009 or 2010 and was a founding member of the Victoria Mxenge Group of Advocates in 2011.
Chaskalson also served as an acting Constitutional Court justice in 2023 and 2024. He is a co-author of Constitutional Law of South Africa, a leading treatise. His experience includes extensive constitutional and public law work.
His previous experience at the State Capture Commission is also significant. There, he led evidence on illicit money flows, work that contributed to the recovery of R875 million from McKinsey and R639 million for Transnet pensioners in cases involving Regiments Capital.
At the Madlanga Commission, Chaskalson now coordinates the team leading evidence in an inquiry examining allegations of criminality, corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
Sello brings commercial and public-law experience
Advocate Mahlape Sello SC, Senior Counsel at the Johannesburg Bar, is another member of the evidence team. She was admitted as an advocate in 2003 and is a member of the Johannesburg Society of Advocates.
Sello has built a practice in commercial and public law and also serves as an arbitrator for the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa and the China-Africa Joint Arbitration Centre. Her career spans legal, regulatory and public-interest roles.
She served on the South African Law Reform Commission from 2007 to 2011 and was reappointed in 2013. She has also chaired the Advertising Standards Authority's appeal committee and served on the board of Life Healthcare.
In 2022, Sello was one of three members of the Section 89 independent panel that examined the Phala Phala matter. The panel, which included former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo and Judge Thokozile Masipa, found that President Cyril Ramaphosa may have had a case to answer.
Her experience in public and commercial law now strengthens the legal team testing evidence at an inquiry dealing with some of the most serious allegations facing South Africa’s criminal justice system.
Hassim brings a public-interest litigation record
Advocate Adila Hassim SC is a Senior Counsel at Thulamela Chambers and has built a prominent career in public-interest litigation. She holds a BA and LLB from the University of Natal, an LLM from Saint Louis University (1999, Franklin Thomas Fellowship) and a doctorate in the science of law from the University of Notre Dame (2006).
Hassim was previously a Constitutional Court law clerk and became closely involved in South Africa’s health-rights law through the AIDS Law Project and the Treatment Action Campaign. She later co-founded SECTION27, where she served as Director of Litigation, and co-founded Corruption Watch.
Her litigation record includes the Limpopo textbooks case, the silicosis class action against mining companies and the Life Esidimeni arbitration into the deaths of psychiatric patients. These cases put her at the centre of complex public-interest disputes about constitutional rights, government accountability and evidence.
In January 2024, Hassim was part of South Africa’s legal team at the International Court of Justice in the case against Israel. She helped set out the evidentiary basis for the alleged acts before the world court.
Her experience in major public-interest cases now shapes her role as an evidence leader at the Madlanga Commission, where she is responsible for testing testimony and documentary material before the panel.
Segeels-Ncube adds administrative-law expertise
Advocate Lee Segeels-Ncube, an advocate at the Johannesburg Bar, is an evidence leader on the Commission. She was admitted to the Society of Advocates in 2013 and practises from Sandown Chambers as a member of the Bridge Group of Advocates.
Her practice centres on administrative and commercial law, which are particularly relevant to an inquiry examining the conduct of public institutions and the exercise of power in the criminal justice system.
Her role as an evidence leader brings that experience into a team responsible for testing witness accounts and documentary evidence. She is part of the legal structure through which the Commission examines the allegations and competing versions before it.
Motlhasedi brings human-rights expertise
Advocate Ofentse Motlhasedi is an advocate and evidence leader with a background in human rights and constitutional litigation. She holds an LLB and an LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria.
Before moving into public-interest litigation and legislative drafting, Motlhasedi clerked at both the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the Supreme Court of Kenya. Her professional background includes experience in two top judicial institutions as well as constitutional and human rights work.
That experience adds another dimension to the evidence team as the Commission examines allegations involving law enforcement, public institutions and the wider criminal justice system.
Pooe has worked with the Commission chair before
Advocate Thabang Pooe is an advocate and evidence leader with a background in public-interest litigation. She holds an LLB from North-West University and an LLM from UCLA, and came through the Students for Law and Social Justice programme before working as a SECTION27 fellow.
Pooe also clerked for Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga at the Constitutional Court. That previous professional relationship means she had worked with the person who now chairs the Commission before joining its evidence team.
She participated in the Life Esidimeni process and has continued to work in public-interest litigation. Her role at the Madlanga Commission, though, is distinct from that of Justice Madlanga and the other commissioners because she presents and tests evidence rather than making findings.
Get your news on the go. Click here to follow the Conviction WhatsApp channel.
