Left: President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Photo: Waldo Swiegers / Bloomberg via Getty Images) | Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. (Photo: Gallo Images / Veli Nhlapo) Judge Raymond Zondo will miss the December 31 deadline to deliver the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Instead, the commission’s secretary Professor Itumeleng Mosala will go to court before the end of December to seek a postponement.
Zondo plans to complete an interim report by the end of December, part two of an interim report by the end of January, and part three by the end of February when it will finally shut up shop.
Zondo told Ramaphosa about the delay last week. “Although the president would have liked to receive a complete report by the end of December, he understands the commission’s position,” said the commission. Mosala says the commission will not require further funding to complete its work. It has already cost South Africans R1-billion, and recouped R1,7-billion from McKinsey.
Why the delay? “Our recent assessment has revealed that, while parts of the report relating to certain work streams or state-owned entities and topics will be ready by the end of December, there are some parts that will still need further work beyond the end of December if the commission is not to compromise the quality of the report,” the commission noted in a statement.
Zondo applied for a postponement in September and set December 31 in stone as a final delivery date.
The commission’s terms of reference are complex, sweeping and lengthy. They include:
- How much corrupt networks influenced the national executive, including deputy ministers;
- Whether the Gupta family offered former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas and former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor bribes and inducements;
- Whether former president Jacob Zuma had a role in making the offers;
- Whether members of the national executive, public officials or employees of state-owned enterprises breached the Constitution or other codes by facilitating the award of tenders to benefit the Gupta families and others; and
- The nature and extent of corruption in government.
It’s a huge mandate, but the commission has had over three years to investigate and hear testimony. Some members of civil society are critical of Zondo’s repeated requests for postponements to deliver the final report. But others, like Madeleine Fullard of the National Prosecuting Authority’s missing persons task team, are more sympathetic. “As someone who worked on the TRC report, they have my sympathy and support. Masses of data, multiple authors submitting last-minute drafts requiring huge amounts of editing and integration to try to achieve one ‘voice’. Sub-section after sub-section. The cross-referencing, the checking! It is an epic process. It needs a year,” Fullard wrote on Twitter.
The TRC was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which probed apartheid crimes against humanity. Testimony to the commission is contained in 429 transcripts with copious legal documents, including affidavits and supporting documents. DM