The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture has cost South Africa almost R1-billion, but it has saved the country billions more, said Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo at a media briefing on Wednesday, 30 June.

Zondo confirmed the current costs of the almost three-year probe stand at almost R1-billion – but this is roughly equal to the R864-million which McKinsey has repaid to Eskom and SAA after negotiations with his commission, he said.  

“(Ultimately), the commission’s work can’t be measured in rands and cents,” Zondo said, adding that it had to be measured by a more substantive outcome. “(We have) to make sure looting doesn’t happen again. If the looting repeats itself, it would be a serious indictment on us as a country.”

The commission’s secretary, Professor Itumeleng Mosala, said the commission’s work had exposed the theft of many billions more. Paul Holden’s series in Daily Maverick provides a detailed account of how the State Capture loot was assembled and distributed. 

Zondo said the commission would hand over a final report to President Cyril Ramaphosa by the end of August or the end of September at the latest.  This week, the high court granted a final three-month extension to the inquiry. Witnesses have told the commission that South Africa’s effort to get under the skin of State Capture and to seek ways to end it, is unprecedented. 

But questions have been raised by Cabinet ministers, the public and opposition parties about how long the commission is sitting and how expensive it has been for the public purse. 

Zondo also revealed that investigators and lawyers have worked without pay for parts of this year, although the Department of Justice, which manages the commission’s budgets, had recently made payments. “There may be some outstanding payments for April, May and June,” he said, adding that the commission “must complete its work properly or it would all have been fruitless and wasteful expenditure”. DM