The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry will obtain a statement from socialite Serge Cabonge after he was heard in an audio recording allegedly claiming to have used his police connections to help secure the withdrawal of criminal charges against the daughter of a man linked to the commission.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, commission spokesperson Jeremy Michaels said the inquiry had noted the voice recordings attributed to Cabonge, which were played during former deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya’s bail hearing at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
“Mr Cabonge has previously been mentioned at hearings before the Commission. The Commission will engage with Mr Cabonge and obtain his statement as part of its broad investigation into matters falling within its terms of reference and his mention of the Commission in the recording,” Michaels said.
The commission said it would not comment further on the matter at this stage.
Claims of police connections
The recordings were played in court during the continuation of Sibiya’s bail hearing, where the state is opposing his release on allegations involving rape, the sexual grooming of a minor and human trafficking.
Earlier, IOL reported about the approximately 25-minute recording captured a conversation between Cabonge and a man identified in court as Mr M, whose identity is being withheld to protect his teenage daughter.
During the conversation, Cabonge allegedly described his close relationship with a man he said was sitting in the front row of the Madlanga Commission hearings.
He claimed that the man had previously been a judge president and that he had helped his family when the man’s daughter faced charges following a collision in Sandton involving a woman carrying a child.
Cabonge allegedly said the woman’s mother approached him for assistance after police began making inquiries into the incident.
He claimed that he obtained the case number, contacted people to check the matter and used his connections to intervene.
According to Cabonge’s account in the recording, the case was withdrawn within approximately a week after he became involved.
The recording did not identify the man allegedly linked to the commission, and no name was mentioned during the conversation.
Recording presented during Sibiya’s bail hearing
Detective-Sergeant Nokukhanya Ndlovu, the investigating officer in Sibiya’s case, reportedly told the court that Mr M had confirmed that the conversation was his and that the recording was authentic.
Ndlovu said the recording had allegedly been sent to Sibiya’s wife, Sizakele Dlamini, and that she had been verifying an affidavit submitted by Dlamini, along with supporting documents provided by the defence.
The detective said she was also investigating whether Mr M had previously stated that the case involving his daughter had been withdrawn.
Sibiya’s lawyer, Estelle Killian SC, questioned why the recording was being played in court, particularly because Sibiya was not the subject of the conversation.
The defence subsequently indicated that it no longer wished to introduce the recording and had made it available to the state.
The court heard that the investigation into the recording, including the circumstances surrounding an accompanying note, remained ongoing.
The Madlanga Commission was established to investigate criminality, political interference and corruption within South Africa’s criminal justice system.
The commission’s decision to obtain a statement from Cabonge means it intends to establish further details about his claims and his reference to a person allegedly connected to its proceedings.
Michaels said the commission would make no further comment on the matter at this stage.
IOL News