DURBAN – The Zondo Commission is facing serious challenges over its ability to protect witnesses who testify before it after the concealed identities of two key witnesses ‘Ms K’ and ‘Mr Y’ were seemingly outed in a Facebook group.

The Facebook group’s name purports to be in support of former President Jacob Zuma. However, some members of the group threatened to report the poster of the screengrab with what was supposedly Ms K’s picture and details to the SAPS for identifying a witness at the commission.

In revealing what it claimed to be the identity of the witness, who presented evidence to the commission on Wednesday, the Facebook account purported ‘Ms K’ suffered from a mental illness.

The account also claimed ‘Ms K’ was fired by the National Intelligence Coordinating Centre (NICOC), where she had been employed.

In her testimony before the commission, ‘Ms K’ told the commission’s chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that Siyabonga Cwele, David Mahlobo and Bongani Bongo who were State Security Ministers under former president Jacob Zuma, abused the State Security Agency (SSA) and its mandate at executive level.

The same account also appeared to reveal the identity of ‘Mr Y’ whom it alleged was an apartheid murderer and spy.

This is not the first time the commission finds itself having to deal with the issue of the identity of a hidden witness being outed. During her testimony before the commission in November 2020, former South African Airways board chairperson Dudu Myeni revealed the identity of a witness named ‘Mr X’.

This is despite the commission having issued an order that his identity remained secret for safety reasons after he had given evidence that he and Myeni had swindled millions of rands from KwaZulu-Natal north-coast bulk water provision utility, Mhlathuze Water.

In late November, Zondo said he had instructed the commission’s legal team to assist the secretariat to prepare the documentation necessary for the secretary of the commission to lay a criminal complaint against Myeni so that police could act in terms of Section 5 of the Commissions Act or Regulation 9 of the commission’s regulations.

Lawson Naidoo, executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac), said revealing the identity of a hidden witness constituted a criminal offence and such a matter ought to be investigated by the police and prosecuted.

The story will be updated once the commission’s secretary, Reverend Mbuyiselo Stemela, responds regarding the legal ramifications of revealing the identity of a hidden witness and the latest on steps taken against Myeni.