A last-minute court scramble tried to yank a senior cop out of the hot seat, but the commission rolled on anyway.
Bid to duck the witness stand
Bid to duck the witness stand
- Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya moved to block his commission appearance.
- The attempt landed hours before he was due to speak.
- Lawyers claimed the setup cornered him unfairly.
- Judges refused to hit pause.
- Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya received thousands of pages days before testifying.
- The bundle came from phones seized for months.
- Reviewing years of chats was flagged as impossible.
- Counsel said the late dump sabotaged preparation.
- The material reportedly contains long-running WhatsApp conversations.
- Some chats allegedly link him to underworld figures.
- Other chats touch on sensitive police operations.
- The risk of self-incrimination drove the legal rush.
- Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya asked for an emergency interdict.
- The Pretoria High Court rejected the urgency argument.
- Commissioners were cleared to continue.
- The testimony delay request collapsed.
- Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya was named in a presidential media note.
- The statement cited prima facie evidence.
- It pointed toward possible SAPS investigations.
- Lawyers said it poisoned public perception.
- Prior witnesses linked him to disputed arrest operations.
- Conflicting Hawks teams reportedly clashed at one scene.
- Tip-offs allegedly went unchecked.
- Questions linger over whether arrests were manipulated.
- Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga refused to halt proceedings.
- The inquiry prioritised momentum over delay tactics.
- Limited preparation time was granted instead.
- Safety concerns triggered possible closed sessions.
- The commission keeps probing political and criminal overlap.
- Senior police leadership remains under scrutiny.
- Witness tension keeps escalating.
- Public trust hangs in the balance on whether fairness holds.
