As the hearing into allegations of impropriety at Africa’s largest asset manager, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), resumes this week — and simultaneously winds down — the inquiry will hear the last of former CEO Dan Matjila’s testimony.
The commission has scheduled three witnesses to follow Matjila in the time allocated. However, given the number of individuals Matjila has implicated so far — and with more likely to come — one would be forgiven for thinking the commission may be trying to wrap things up as quickly as possible.
It has been a long slog since hearings began in January. On the one hand, hearings could only happen for two-and-a-half days a week for most of the inquiry’s duration. On the other, the level of impropriety appears to have been much worse than anticipated — the number of deals under investigation increased from a handful to nearly 40. This drastically increased the workload of the four investigators assigned to the commission, and the number of witnesses required to testify.
But while the commission twice requested an extension to its deadline — the final report is now to be handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa by the end of October — the commission did not request additional resources to support its burgeoning forensic investigation.
The conclusion to the hearings appears premature for other reasons. A central theme of Matjila’s testimony has been the enormous pressure he said he felt to fund deals brought to him by senior politicians and other “influential” people.
Ever so discreetly, his testimony pointed to a range of transactions and dealings allegedly related to senior figures inside the ANC, and the ruling party itself. These included former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and Malusi Gigaba, former ANC treasurer-general and current minister of health Zweli Mkhize, former SAA chair Dudu Myeni, and Kase Lawal, who has strong ties to former president Jacob Zuma and whose Camac Energy proved to be an unmitigated disaster for the PIC.
All should be invited (or subpoenaed) to provide their account of dealings relating to the PIC; they should be obliged under oath and in the full glare of the national media to clarify what transpired.
It would be a great travesty, given the time and resources invested, if the process to clean up an institution that has a vital role to play in the functioning of the economy were deemed to be incomplete or inconclusive.
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