The interim report of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, which is expected to be handed over to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday following a three-month public hearing, will not be released publicly. However, the final report will be released to the public with the commission advising Ramaphosa on areas that "are of national security sensitivity and how those areas will need to be managed".

During a media briefing on Monday in Pretoria, Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed this. Magwenya said the reasoning for not releasing the interim report to the public is because some of the witnesses that have already appeared before the commission are going to be asked return to give evidence. "Some (witnesses) have evidence located in specific areas but not as broad as it was meant to be. As a result, those witnesses will still have the opportunity to testify before the commission. Therefore, "starting to chew on and debate something that is only half-baked will not be helpful," he stated.

He said that the interim report will help Ramaphosa catch up on the work of the commission because he hasn't had time to follow the proceedings every day. "However, it will not be helpful for the witnesses, the commission, or us all to start getting into knots over something that has not been finished," He stated that extensive efforts have been made to provide adequate security for witnesses appearing before the commission. This comes after Marius van der Merwe, also known as Witness D, was shot to death outside of his home in Brakpan just a few weeks after giving testimony that put Julius Mkhwanazi, the suspended deputy chief of the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department, at the center of a murder cover-up.

According to Magwenya, an agreement has been made to work with the leadership of the media on ways to safeguard witnesses and prevent them from being unfairly exposed to those who might want to harm them. He stated that "we have the Protected Disclosure Bill that is currently in consultation at the technical level of government before it proceeds to cabinet" regarding the protection of whistleblowers. The Bill, he said, covers all spheres of government in terms of obligations with timeframes around dealing with whistleblower information and also proposes the role of a retired Judge to oversee the level of compliance with that process. Magwenya was asked about what South Africa (SA) is doing regarding the exclusion of the country from participating in the G20 under the United States (US) presidency.

He said: "We have strongly asserted that we don’t need to be invited to the G20 meetings. We are a full member of the G20. We are a founding member of the G20. Second, what the United States is trying to do is against multilateralism, so it must be challenged and rejected by all G20 members." He added that SA has been in talks with other G20 members to encourage them “to express their own views as they have expressed to us, their support as well as their rejection of the US position which was taken unilaterally in a body that takes decisions through consensus”. We were against the US boycott. We will not promote any form of boycott,” he said.

However, he said, SA will continue to advocate for the ongoing championing of the issues that genuinely surfaced during the Johannesburg Summit to remain firmly on the G20 agenda “whether the US approves of those issues or not”. Such issues include inequality, how we deal with poverty and climate change, according to Magwenya. He said the country is also in close discussions with G7 members to ensure there is “continuity breach substantively on the issues that surfaced and dealt with at the Johannesburg Summit into the G7 agenda as well”. “Some of the G7 members are also the G20 members as well," he said.