The state capture commission, which was set up in 2018 with an initial six-month brief, has a New Year’s Day deadline to hand the findings to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa signed off the official deadline for submission in late October and the highly anticipated document must be filed by January 1, as indicated in the government gazette published on November 9.
The report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela that set the inquiry in motion stipulated that the commission run for 180 days. Former president Jacob Zuma, having failed in legal attempts to prevent its establishment, signed it into existence in January 2018.
Public hearings overseen by acting chief justice Raymond Zondo have since dragged on, with the commission getting five extensions to its lifespan and its cost ballooning to more than R1bn. In September, judge Tshifhiwa Maumela granted the last extension and ordered that the commission finish its work by December 31. The amendment to the terms of reference signed by Ramaphosa gives effect to Maumela’s order and ends uncertainty on whether Maumela’s ruling merely meant the commission’s work must conclude by then or whether it bound Zondo to submit the report by then.
Sources close to the commission and justice minister speculated that the fifth extension would not suffice and it was likely that another one would be needed. Now, with Ramaphosa’s signature, there is no doubt that D-Day is January 1 2022.
Zondo wants the lion’s share of the work finalised by December 20, and the inquiry’s team is working flat-out – including after hours — to meet the deadline. With 30 working days to go as of Wednesday, the commission’s work will include consolidating an archive of legal papers in anticipation of legal challenges following the report’s release.
Once the report is filed, it and its recommendations on prosecution are all but certain to be taken on review.
The culmination of the inquiry’s work will include findings on alleged state capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector. Importantly, Zondo will recommend who should be referred for prosecution in criminal cases.
More than 300 witnesses have testified under oath and several implicated persons have already raised complaints – including Zuma – about alleged prejudice. To date, no high-profile state capture accused has been successfully brought before SA’s courts to face charges, trial and – where found guilty – sentencing. The Gupta family, Zuma’s friends and partners to his son who were said to be at the centre of industrial-scale corruption during his reign, had sanctions slapped on them by the UK and US. They, along with business associate Salim Essa, remain abroad.
batese@businesslive.co.za
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