Marius "Vlam" van der Merwe, a witness who testified at South Africa's Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, has been shot dead in Brakpan, police confirmed on Friday evening.
Police confirmed that Van der Merwe was shot dead in Brenthurst, Brakpan, Ekurhuleni. Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe told The Citizen that police management were en route to the crime scene. "He has already testified," Mathe said.
Van der Merwe, known as Witness D during his testimony before the commission in November 2025, had implicated suspended Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi in criminal activity.
During his testimony, Van der Merwe described how Mkhwanazi allegedly instructed him to dispose of a dead body.
The incident Van der Merwe described occurred at a Brakpan home in April 2022. According to his testimony, officers entered a house after tracing a white truck allegedly used in a warehouse robbery. Van der Merwe said that Chief Superintendent Julius Mkhwanazi later arrived at the scene and instructed that the body be disposed of "in a mineshaft or dumped in a dam".
Fearing he would be killed next, Van der Merwe complied. He loaded the corpse onto his bakkie and left it partially submerged at Nigel dam.
Van der Merwe told the commission he feared the behaviour he described was ongoing and that, if unchecked, it would erode public confidence in policing and private security.
The shooting comes at a time when allegations of corruption and interference in the police and the criminal justice system take centre stage at the Madlanga commission.
The killing marks the second witness connected to Mkhwanazi allegations to die violently. Jaco Hanekom, an informant who provided CCTV footage implicating Mkhwanazi and EMPD officers in copper theft, was killed in a drive-by shooting on the same day that the implicated officers were granted bail.
Earlier this week, Mkhwanazi denied that payments he received from tenderpreneur Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala were bribes linked to his alleged involvement in a blue lights scandal.
The Madlanga Commission, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, is investigating allegations of criminal infiltration, political interference and corruption within South Africa's criminal justice system.
