Zondo Commission to hand over fifth and final report

Chairperson of State Capture Commission, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, will hand over the commission’s fifth and final report to President Cyril Ramaphosa this evening. The official handover ceremony will be held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria this evening at 18:00. This follows the president’s receipt of the electronic copy of the report last night.

Watch: Fifth volume of the State Capture report to be handed over this evening

The final installment of the report includes findings of investigations into the SABC, the State Security Agency, Passenger Rail of South Africa and the Estina diary scandal, among others. The commission has been investigating state capture allegations since 2018. It was initially billed to sit for six months, but has asked for several extensions as it tried to acquire more witnesses to give evidence.

Grueling process

Following another extension by the Pretoria High Court, it was then expected to hand over the final part of its report to the president last Wednesday.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, says it has been a mammoth task.

He adds “It’s been a grueling four years since the establishment of the commission and three years of that period was the hearing of oral evidence by the commission.”

Earlier, President Ramaphosa vowed that after receiving the report he will submit the report to Parliament for further consideration.

“As required by the ruling of the Gauteng High Court on the 28th of December 2021; and in line with the remedial action contained in the Public Protector’s report dated October 2016, I will submit the full Commission report to Parliament by June 30th 2022. It could be before, but certainly by June 30th.” says Ramaphosa.

The president also said he will ensure that his administration implements the commission’s recommendations.
He further adds, “As I indicated to the Court, only once the final installment has been received will it be possible to have complete sight of the report’s implications and to develop an implementation plan on the recommendations.”

He pleaded patiently saying government will not make pronouncements on the findings nor recommendations of the Commission’s report before having considered all parts of the report.

The commission has implicated several businesses, government officials, heads of state-owned companies and politicians in the state capture projects.

Criminal charges 

It has also recommended criminal charges against members of the Gupta family and that investigations would be conducted against some ministers, including Mining and Mineral Resources Minister, Gwede Mantashe, and the removal of Zizi Kodwa from the Deputy State Security Minister portfolio.

However, some of these ministers have vowed to take the report on review.