Suliman Carrim in Court: Fit for Dubai, Not for the Commission?
Suliman Carrim told the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday that his doctor encouraged him to go on the trip he was arrested for. This is the man whose lawyers told the Madlanga Commission for months that he was too ill to come back and testify. On X and under SABC’s video of the hearing, the reaction was close to one voice: too sick for the commission, but fit to fly to Dubai.
On Friday morning, the police said he had a return ticket and was due back on 28 October. Later that day, the prosecutor told the court there was no return ticket. Then Carrim was asked whether he would come to his own trial if his condition did not improve. He said his doctor will decide on that.
I went through the day and pulled out the parts that matter, and I will answer the questions you asked in the comments. Was he running? Why can he answer questions in court but not at the commission? Was the pilgrimage real? And will he get bail on Monday? In my view, the ticket is the smaller question. The bigger one is who gets to decide when Suliman Carrim is well enough to answer.
Was he running?
Today, 17 October, Carrim is in Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre in Pretoria, where he stays until his bail hearing continues on Monday, 19 October. He was arrested at OR Tambo on Thursday night, 15 October, before a flight to Dubai. He is charged under the Commissions Act for failing to appear before the Madlanga Commission.
On Friday morning, outside court, police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe was asked whether he was fleeing the country. She said:
“At this stage, we do not have such information and evidence. What we do know is that he had a return ticket. So he was flying out of the country with his family when he was arrested. But we do know that he was due back in the country on the 28th of October.”
Brig Athlenda Mathe, national police spokesperson, outside court, IOL, 16 October 2026 (video)
Later that day, in court, prosecutor Advocate Donald Shiko told the magistrate the opposite. He said:
“The accused person was arrested yesterday around about 20:43 late in the evening, when the accused person was intended to fly out of the country and his destination was to be that of Dubai. Now, Your Worship, also during preliminary investigation by the investigating officer, there was no return ticket which the accused person was in possession of. Now it simply means that, Your Worship, the accused person was intending to fly out of the country and having no intention of returning back into the country.”
Adv Donald Shiko, prosecutor, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
The investigating officer, Captain Kubayi, testified that Carrim told police he would return on 27 October, but did not produce a ticket. According to The Citizen, he also confirmed Carrim had at least 5 bags with him. Carrim’s advocate, Hendrik Potgieter, answered the prosecutor:
“I can provide the State immediately with a return ticket in possession of his wife. We all know this time of the year, it’s October. It is the religious pilgrimage of Umrah, that is in Dubai, and that is where the accused and his wife was intending to go, and from there to do a visit to Pakistan and then come back. And it’s booked. That itinerary has been booked.”
Adv Hendrik Potgieter, Carrim’s counsel, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
So on the same day, the police spokesperson and the prosecutor gave 2 different answers. That is why the hearing was postponed. The State asked for time to check the ticket and his addresses, and the magistrate agreed, over the defence’s objection.
Under an SABC News report on the hearing, a popular comment made the point many others made: “One can book for return ticket and decide not to return.” That is true. But it works both ways. If the ticket is real and booked, one of the State’s main reasons to keep him in custody falls away on Monday.
Too sick for the commission, fit to fly?
This was the biggest question on X and on YouTube, and Carrim answered it himself on the stand. He said:
“No, I was going for a spiritual trip, and I had my medication, and my doctor said, as long as my wife is with me and supervising me, it would be good for me to go, and he encouraged me to go on the trip.”
Suliman Carrim on the stand, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
The prosecutor then asked him the question everyone was asking:
“Shiko: Don’t you think that the same encouragement was supposed to then be used to then attend to the commission, since, as you testified, you’re working on yourself to get better? Carrim: This was part of the process of getting better. Shiko: However, the recommendation or the encouragement from your doctor was to attend to the trip, and not to the commission. Carrim: No, he didn’t say that. I think you’re construing it. I’m saying, he said the trip would make me better, get me better. He didn’t speak about the commission. He never said you can’t go to the commission. Go to the trip, get better, and come back, and then we’ll do another assessment.”
Adv Donald Shiko and Suliman Carrim, cross-examination, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
Carrim also told the court that in his warning statement to the police on Thursday, he said he was going for treatment to get better, so that he could come back to the commission.
Take his answer at face value, and it still does not help him. The commission did not ask him to fly anywhere. It asked him to come back and answer questions, or to see an independent specialist. He did neither.
Why can he answer in court but not at the commission?
On Friday, Carrim testified and was cross-examined. Partway through, he told the court he had not taken his medication. He said:
“I have not taken my medication. I can feel my mouth is dry. I’m dizzy.”
Suliman Carrim on the stand, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
When the prosecutor told him his version kept changing, Carrim said:
“I’m not well. And my doctor, even now, advised me not to be cross-examined, but my counsel said I have to.”
Suliman Carrim, cross-examination, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
His own counsel told him he had to face cross-examination, so he did. When his freedom depended on it, he answered. In June, when the commission was waiting for his documents, his advocate Kameel Premhid said the legal team could not provide them, because they act on instructions and Carrim had been ill.
According to TimesLIVE, those documents include a business contract with Hangwani Maumela, the audited financial statements of his construction company, and an explanation of R2.1 million paid to Cat Matlala’s companies. One viewer summed it up: “He can travel, but he cannot furnish his bank statements.” According to Daily Maverick, when he was asked in court why he did not go back to the commission, Carrim said that will be dealt with at his trial.
Was the pilgrimage real?
Carrim told the court the trip was for spiritual upliftment, with humanitarian work in Pakistan after it. His itinerary, read into the record, went through Dubai to Saudi Arabia, back to Dubai, then to Lahore in Pakistan on 20 October, and home at the end of October. He said:
“No, it’s a yearly trip that I did. … about 17 years. Potgieter: From where to? From here to? Carrim: From here to Saudi, then to Dubai, then to Pakistan, and then back. 70% of what was in my luggage were sweets and snacks for the kids, that we take over and do a distribution in Pakistan.”
Suliman Carrim on the stand, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
A viewer asked whether a pilgrimage does not happen only at a set time of year. That is true of the Hajj, which falls on fixed dates in the Islamic calendar. His advocate called this trip Umrah, the smaller pilgrimage, which can be made at any time of the year. So the month is not a reason to doubt it, and the State has not said the trip is false. Its case is that he has not shown he was coming back.
Will he get bail on Monday?
On Friday, posts on X announced that bail was denied. One of them has more than 3 000 likes. That is not what happened. The magistrate made no decision on bail. The hearing was postponed to Monday.
The State says Carrim is linked to 4 addresses, 2 in Johannesburg, 1 in Cape Town and 1 in Mahikeng, and that he did not volunteer them. It also wants to know why earlier cases against him were withdrawn. His defence says he has lived at the same Mahikeng address for 17 years, and the commission served its papers there. His advocate also made the same point I made in my last video, about how small the charge is. He said:
“What would be the reasonable request from the State to now request this court on a charge which only may have a fine, a minimum fine of 50 pounds?”
Adv Hendrik Potgieter, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
Under the Commissions Act, the fine is not more than 50 pounds, or up to 6 months in jail. But a small charge does not settle bail. Bail turns on one question: will he come back to court? Asked by his own advocate whether he would come back or evade trial, Carrim said:
“Potgieter: Would you return to court, or would you evade trial, or what would it be? Carrim: There’s no need for me to evade trial.”
Adv Hendrik Potgieter and Suliman Carrim, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
The prosecutor then asked him what happens if his condition does not get better. This was the exchange:
“Shiko: If your condition does not get better, would you then be in a position to attend these proceedings? Carrim: Well, I’ll have to go back and try and get better so that I can attend these meetings, these hearings. I’m saying if I get better, yes, I will. Shiko: If you do not? Carrim: Well, my doctor will decide on that.”
Adv Donald Shiko and Suliman Carrim, cross-examination, SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026 (video)
Separately, Mathe said the police cold case unit flagged Carrim over fraud and corruption at the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality in the North West. That investigation is not part of this charge.
Who signed the sick notes?
Legal journalist Karyn Maughan asked a question many viewers asked. She wrote on X that she hopes the HPCSA investigates the medical professionals who claimed under oath that Carrim was unfit to testify at the Madlanga Commission. The HPCSA is the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
In August, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga already said what the commission thought of Carrim’s doctor. He said:
“And for Mr Carrim to offer us his specialist, that does not assist. In fact, that actually takes us to what courts always say, the hired gun principle. Because from where we are sitting, we do not consider Mr Carrim’s doctor to be an objective expert. He is an expert that’s closely associated with Mr Carrim and who, from where we are sitting, unless we get another opinion, appears to us to be pushing Mr Carrim’s story.”
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Madlanga Commission, 14 August 2026 (video)
On Friday, Carrim said his doctor told him the trip would make him better. The commission’s view is that his doctor is not objective. Only an independent assessment can settle that, and it is the assessment he never went to.
So, was he running?
So, was he running? I still cannot tell you that as a fact, and on Friday the police and the prosecutor could not agree on it either. What I can tell you is what Carrim said himself. In his version, his doctor encouraged the trip, his doctor advised against cross-examination, and if he does not get better, his doctor will decide whether he comes to his trial. On Monday, a magistrate decides whether that is good enough.
If Carrim gets bail, who will decide whether he is well enough to stand trial: the court, or his doctor?
Sources
- SABC News livestream, ‘Suliman Carrim appears in court’, 16 October 2026 (source item): youtube.com
- IOL on YouTube, ‘Bail Hearing Postponed: Suliman Carrim To Spend Weekend At Kgosi Mampuru Ahead of Monday Ruling’, 16 October 2026: youtube.com
- SABC News on YouTube, ‘Defence insists Carrim was going on a pilgrimage and would return: Canny Maphanga’, 16 October 2026: youtube.com
- Daily Sun (Rejoice Ndlovu), ‘Carrim’s Dubai plans hit a cell wall!’, 16 October 2026: snl24.com
- The Citizen, ‘Was Suliman Carrim planning to come back to SA? Flight tickets, old cases argued in bail battle’, 16 October 2026: citizen.co.za
- Daily Maverick (Nonkululeko Njilo), ‘Carrim says doctors backed Dubai trip despite commission no-show’, 16 October 2026: dailymaverick.co.za
- Sowetan (Herman Moloi), ‘Five things to know about Suliman Carrim’s bail application’, 16 October 2026: sowetan.co.za
- SAPeople, ‘Weekend in jail for R200k-per-month North West tycoon Suliman Carrim’, 16 October 2026: sapeople.com
- IOL (Kamogelo Moichela), ‘Five bags, spiritual upliftment trip and a disputed return ticket’, 16 October 2026: iol.co.za
- IOL, ‘State says Sulliman Carrim was headed to Saudi Arabia when arrested at OR Tambo’, 16 October 2026: iol.co.za
- SABC News, ‘Carrim to spend weekend behind bars as case postponed to Monday’, 16 October 2026: sabcnews.com
- EWN, ‘Suliman Carrim remanded in custody after bail proceedings postponed’, 16 October 2026: ewn.co.za
- Sunday World, ”My doctor encouraged me’: Suliman Carrim defends Dubai pilgrimage trip’, 16 October 2026: sundayworld.co.za
- TimesLIVE (Sinesipho Schrieber), ‘Madlanga inquiry wants Carrim examined by own specialist after another hospitalisation’, 25 June 2026: timeslive.co.za
- SABC News, ‘Criminal charges to be laid against Suliman Carrim’, 14 August 2026: youtu.be
- Karyn Maughan on X, 16 October 2026: x.com
- Commissions Act 8 of 1947, section 6 (Acts Online): acts.co.za
- The Riaan Roux Show, ‘Too Sick to Testify, Fit to Fly? Suliman Carrim Arrested at OR Tambo’, 16 October 2026: youtu.be
- Photos: Suliman Carrim and Adv Hendrik Potgieter: stills from the SABC News court livestream, 16 October 2026. Brig Athlenda Mathe: still from IOL, 16 October 2026. Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and Adv Kameel Premhid: stills from SABC News, 14 August 2026. Karyn Maughan: PolitySA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
