Suliman Carrim Arrested at OR Tambo: Too Sick to Testify?

Watch: Too Sick to Testify, Fit to Fly? Suliman Carrim Arrested at OR Tambo (The Riaan Roux Show)

Suliman Carrim, the North West businessman whose lawyers told the Madlanga Commission for 6 months that he was too ill to testify, was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday night. According to eNCA, he was moments away from boarding a flight to the United Arab Emirates.

On X, the story by morning was that he tried to skip the country. This is the man the commission heard was out at Woolworths and Kauai while he was said to be too ill to appear, and the man it connected to Cat Matlala’s R360 million police tender.

I will show you what the police have confirmed, how 6 months of sick notes became a criminal charge, and what that charge carries. It carries at most 6 months in jail. In my view, if Carrim was leaving, he was not running from that charge. He was running from what comes after it.

What happened at OR Tambo?

On Thursday evening, 15 October, the Commission’s Recommendations Task Team arrested a 49-year-old man at OR Tambo for failing to appear before the Madlanga Commission. Police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said in a voice note to SABC News:

“The commission’s recommendations task team effected the arrest just after half past eight on Thursday evening at the OR Tambo airport, moments before the 49-year-old man was due to board an international flight. The suspect has been arrested for failing to appear before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry. He is expected to appear before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court this morning.”
Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, national police spokesperson, voice note to SABC News, 16 October 2026 (video)

The police did not name him, and they did not say he was fleeing. eNCA named him and reported the UAE flight. Newzroom Afrika knows who he is, but will only name him once he appears in court. Its reporter outside the court said:

“We do know who the particular individual who was arrested yesterday is, but because he has not appeared before this magistrate’s court, then we can’t name his name. But so far, the SAPS themselves have already indicated that this is a 49-year-old individual. They were arrested yesterday at the OR Tambo International Airport about to board an international flight, so seemingly suggesting that this person was fleeing from the country because of that failure to appear before the Madlanga Commission.”
Newzroom Afrika reporter outside the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, 16 October 2026 (video)

The Sowetan’s source said the same. Nobody has yet published why he was flying or what his lawyers say. With his record before the commission, I understand why people assumed the worst.

Posts on X also thanked General Mkhwanazi’s Political Killings Task Team. That is not who made the arrest. The commission’s spokesperson, Jeremy Michaels, explained in August where Carrim’s case went.

“The criminal charges have been laid against Mr Carrim by the commission, by the secretary on behalf of the commission, and that matter is now in the hands of the commission’s recommendations task team, the CRTT, which of course is led by the South African Police Service, by SAPS.”
Jeremy Michaels, Madlanga Commission spokesperson, eNCA, 31 August 2026 (video)

He is due in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court today, 16 October. When I recorded this video, the outcome was not yet known.

Why did the commission want him?

Carrim is a former ANC regional treasurer in Ngaka Modiri Molema, and his companies have won just over R251 million in North West provincial tenders. His name first came up at the commission from General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. He said:

“Mr Suliman Carrim, as a businessman in the North West, maintains a direct communication with the arrested person, Vusimuzi Cat Matlala. And in their communication, it involves the contract that Cat Matlala has with the police service, which was a 360 million rand contract I spoke about during the press briefing. Matlala is approaching him to help him engage with the minister in order to stop the cancellation of his contract. And this Mr Suliman Carrim, of course, commits to do that because he has this relationship with the minister.”
Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, at the Madlanga Commission (video)

The minister was Senzo Mchunu. When Carrim testified in March, he said he lent Matlala R10 million, got back about R1.7 million, and was only pretending to know the minister. He said:

“I have been branded as an enabler due to my relationship with the minister. There is no factual basis to make such a statement. I confirm that I have never had a personal or professional relationship with the minister. I have never spoken to the minister.”
Suliman Carrim, Madlanga Commission, 9 March 2026 (video)

According to the Sunday Times, Mchunu told a parliamentary committee he did receive a text message from Carrim, asking him to delay the investigations into Matlala’s tender. Carrim also admitted paying R500 000 towards tender businessman Hangwani Maumela, at Matlala’s request. Asked why, he said:

“At that time I needed to keep, like I said, I needed to keep Cat happy, and I needed to make sure that on the next payment I get another payment. So that was what I was looking to do. Keep Mr Matlala happy, pacify him. I didn’t want to make the payment, but he insisted, he asked me please. So I thought if I don’t do this payment, I might not get a payment on the next one.”
Suliman Carrim, Madlanga Commission, 9 March 2026 (video)

Carrim denies any wrongdoing, and the commission has made no finding yet. But it wanted to test his version, and it was still waiting for his companies’ financial statements. He was due back in April.

How did a sick note become a criminal charge?

He never came back. In April, SABC News reported a suspected heart attack, and his return was postponed 5 times. In July, the commission heard he was seen shopping at Woolworths and eating at Kauai, and that location data put him outside his medical facility for 8 hours or more on most days.

The commission gave him a choice: testify on 14 August, or see an independent specialist. He did neither. On 14 August, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga explained why Carrim’s own doctor was not enough.

“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)

His advocate, Kameel Premhid, said:

“But I must place that on the record, because any suggestion that my client is just running away from accountability, and not himself, through his family and medical representatives, doing whatever he can to cooperate with the commission in the circumstances in which he finds himself, needs to be responded to, and I won’t take it further than that. Those mechanisms are there, and if they’re going to be used, we’ll cooperate to the extent that we can.”
Adv Kameel Premhid, Carrim’s counsel, Madlanga Commission, 14 August 2026 (video)

Madlanga answered:

“Let me outright say, the commission is going to set the criminal process in motion. This is something that the commission just has to do. Otherwise, witnesses will choose to come or not to come testify before it willy-nilly. And we cannot and we will not have that. That’s the end of the road in so far as us having Mr Carrim before us. That’s it.”
Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Madlanga Commission, 14 August 2026 (video)

What is he running from?

The charge was laid in August. Under the Commissions Act, failing to appear carries a fine of up to 50 pounds, about R1 093 according to TimesLIVE, or up to 6 months in jail. Nobody boards a plane to escape that.

South Africa’s Commissions Act 8 of 1947 still contains the original penalty wording: a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or imprisonment for up to six months for failing to appear or obstructing a commission. (Commissions Act 8 of 1947, sections 5 and 6(1))

What has grown since August is everything else. On 11 September, President Ramaphosa authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe North West transport contracts linked to Carrim, including a R168 million contract, and his joint venture’s dealings with the late taxi boss Jotham Msibi. The SIU can go after assets. And the commission will still make findings on his March evidence, and on the records he never handed over.

So, was he running?

So, was he running? The police have not said so, and I will not say it as a fact. But for 6 months the commission was told he could not come to Pretoria, and on Thursday night he was stopped moments before an international flight. In August, his advocate said any suggestion that he was running away from accountability had to be answered. That answer now belongs in a criminal court.

The task team reached him before the plane left. The question now is for the NPA and the SIU. Will they follow the money as fast as the task team followed him to the airport?

Sources

eNCA, ‘Suliman Carrim nabbed at OR Tambo’, 16 October 2026 (source item): enca.com
SABC News, ‘Man arrested for failure to appear before the Madlanga Commission’, 16 October 2026 (source item): sabcnews.com
The Citizen, Faizel Patel, ‘Ex-ANC regional treasurer who skipped Madlanga Commission arrested at OR Tambo Airport’, 16 October 2026 (source item): citizen.co.za
SABC News on YouTube, ‘Suspect arrested for snubbing Madlanga Inquiry to appear in court’, 16 October 2026 (source item): youtube.com
IOL, ‘Former ANC regional treasurer linked to Madlanga Commission arrested at OR Tambo airport’, 16 October 2026: iol.co.za
TimesLIVE, ‘Man arrested at OR Tambo Airport for failing to appear before Madlanga commission’, 16 October 2026: timeslive.co.za
Town Press, ‘Former ANC treasurer held at airport over missed appearance’, 16 October 2026: townpress.co.za
Briefly News, Byron Pillay, ’49-Year-Old Man Arrested at OR Tambo…’, 16 October 2026: briefly.co.za
Herman Moloi (Sowetan) on X, 15 October 2026: x.com
Yusuf Abramjee on X, 16 October 2026: x.com
eNCA on YouTube, ‘Suliman Carrim arrested, due to appear in court’, 16 October 2026: youtu.be
The Citizen, ‘Suliman Carrim no-show at Madlanga commission: Here’s what happens next’, 14 August 2026: citizen.co.za
eNCA, ‘Criminal charges laid against Suliman Carrim’, August 2026: enca.com
eNCA on YouTube, ‘Criminal charges laid against Suliman Carrim’, 31 August 2026: youtu.be
Daily Maverick, ‘Woolworths shopper, patient Suliman Carrim faces criminal charges after final commission no-show’, 14 August 2026: dailymaverick.co.za
Daily Maverick, ‘SIU probe adds fresh scrutiny to ANC-linked businessman Carrim’, 14 September 2026: dailymaverick.co.za
IOL / Cape Times, ‘Why the Madlanga Commission cannot arrest witnesses who ignore subpoenas’, 4 October 2026: iol.co.za
TimesLIVE, ‘Seen shopping but too ill to testify at Madlanga: Suliman Carrim to be charged’, 14 August 2026: timeslive.co.za
TimesLIVE, ‘We’ll never know: Carrim’s obstinacy meets Madlanga’s wrath’, 15 August 2026: timeslive.co.za
The Citizen, ‘Madlanga commission seeks CCTV footage after hospitalised Suliman Carrim seen at Woolies’, 15 July 2026: citizen.co.za
IOL, ‘Madlanga Commission hears Suliman Carrim spent more time outside the medical facility than inside’, 24 July 2026: iol.co.za
Sunday World, ”Cat Matlala pressured me’: Suliman Carrim grilled on millions sent to Hangwani Maumela’, March 2026: sundayworld.co.za
EWN, ‘Carrim denies receiving kickbacks from Cat Matlala’s SAPS tender’, 9 March 2026: ewn.co.za
IOL, ‘Businessman Suliman Carrim faces scrutiny over Cat Matlala’s R360-million SAPS tender’, 9 March 2026: iol.co.za
EWN, ‘Suliman Carrim expected back at Madlanga Commission’, 14 August 2026: ewn.co.za
Cape Times, ‘Madlanga Commission tightens grip on witnesses with criminal charges’, 1 September 2026: capetimes.co.za
EWN, ‘Carrim scored 10 tenders worth just over R250m from NW: Premier’, 28 May 2026: ewn.co.za
Sunday Times, ‘The many faces of Suliman Carrim’, 8 August 2026: sundaytimes.timeslive.co.za
Commissions Act 8 of 1947, sections 5 and 6 (Acts Online): acts.co.za and acts.co.za
Africanews, ‘United Arab Emirates rejects extradition of Gupta brothers’, 7 April 2023: africanews.com
SABC News livestream, Madlanga Commission Day 73, 9 March 2026: youtu.be
SABC News livestream, Madlanga Commission Day 159, 14 August 2026: youtu.be
SABC News, ‘Criminal charges to be laid against Suliman Carrim’, 14 August 2026: youtu.be
SABC News, ‘A look into the background of Suliman Carrim’, 6 February 2026: youtu.be
SABC News, ‘Carrim allegedly suffers a heart attack’, 13 April 2026: youtu.be
The Riaan Roux Show, ‘Suliman Carrim: The Sick Note Shopper’, 16 July 2026: youtu.be
The Riaan Roux Show, ‘Suliman Carrim: What Is the SIU Looking For?’, 15 September 2026: youtu.be
Newzroom Afrika on YouTube, ‘Former ANC North West treasurer arrested’, 16 October 2026: youtube.com
Commissions Act 8 of 1947, sections 5 and 6 (Acts Online): acts.co.za and acts.co.za
Photos: Suliman Carrim, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Adv Kameel Premhid and Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi: stills from SABC News and the Madlanga Commission livestream. Jeremy Michaels: still from eNCA. Senzo Mchunu: PolitySA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Cyril Ramaphosa: ITU Pictures / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.