The presidency on Friday confirmed it had received a soft copy of the fourth instalment of the state of capture report and was going through it before uploading it on its website.
It is not yet clear when the public release of the fourth instalment will occur, with some sources speculating it could be any time from Friday evening into Saturday.
The latest development comes as Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who chairs the commission, filed an application in court for yet another extension to postpone the deadline for submitting his final instalment, which was due by the end of April.
Speaking to Business Day in late March a source speculated the latest report would cover graft at the beleaguered power utility Eskom, so extensive it could constitute a report alone.
According to witnesses at the inquiry, the utility was one of the main targets of state capture, which was run into the ground. Load-shedding — or, scheduled blackouts — in SA have become ubiquitous with millions of people subject to days of stage four cuts this week.
The latest report was initially expected by the end of March. But work had slowed as Zondo prepared for his chief justice interview and then, once appointed, prepared to lead Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews in the first week of April.
On January 4, he submitted the first part of the report to President Cyril Ramaphosa. It covered SAA, the Guptas’ newspaper The New Age, and the SARevenue Service. At the time the inquiry had until late February to submit the full report, in line with a high court order of late December.
On February 1, the commission’s secretary Itumeleng Mosala presented the second part of the total report to director-general in the presidency Phindile Baleni. It detailed state capture, corruption and fraud committed at Transnet and Denel.
The third batch of findings, handed over on March 1, focused on utilities company Bosasa. Mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe, former environmental affairs minister Nomvula Mokonyane and Bosasa seniors including former COO Angelo Agrizzi and executive director Papa Leshabane were among those fingered.
Others implicated in Zondo’s findings to date include the three Gupta brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh, former president Jacob Zuma and his son Duduzane, former SAA board chair Dudu Myeni and former finance minister Malusi Gigaba.
Two months ago Zondo admitted he underestimated how long it would take to finalise the total report. “I take full responsibility and apologise to the honourable court, the president and to all concerned,” read a statement submitted when motivated for one of several extensions.
Zondo is still to tackle various substantial topics including law enforcement with special emphasis on state security and crime intelligence, the Passenger Rail Service of SA, the SABC , the closing of the Gupta-linked accounts by several banks and the attempted capture of National Treasury.
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