When ANC-linked businessman Suliman Carrim appears before the Madlanga Commission on Friday, he is expected to testify on his ties to Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, Senzo Mchunu and top police officers.

ANC-aligned businessman Suliman Carrim will have to appear before the Madlanga Commission after his court application seeking to avoid being called to testify was dismissed.

Carrim had approached the Gauteng Division of the High Court on an urgent basis, arguing that the commission, chaired by retired Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, had breached its own rules and the constitutional principles of fairness, and that he was being singled out and treated differently from other implicated people.

On Thursday, 5 February, the court criticised Carrim's application, which was brought more than three months after he was first subpoenaed.

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"The applicant brings the application more than 10 weeks since he was first summoned to give oral evidence before the commission. There can be no doubt that the inevitability of that appearance has long been prevalent in the mind of the applicant," the court said.

"Apart from the fact that the application is without merit in that the summons is extant and its implications unavoidable, the self-creation of the urgency makes the determination of this application in the urgent court unfeasible."

The spokesperson for the commission, Jeremy Michaels, welcomed the court's decision.

"The Madlanga Commission of Inquiry welcomes the judgment handed down by the ......