Concern about insufficient budget allocated to the Madlanga commission is among the reasons Adv Terry Motau says he resigned as chief evidence leader.
Motau revealed this during an interview on Radio 702 on Tuesday morning, two days after the commission announced that Motau stepped down on good terms and was replaced with Adv Matthew Chaskalson.
“There were things that were quite unforeseen on my part that made it impossible for me to add value and perhaps just to give one example. To be able to perform a task of this nature, once the government says they have given you a budget of R147m... it's not a lot of money for a task such as this one,” he said.
“You have different working streams, such as the procurement of IT services, you have investigators, you have researchers, you have attorneys, you have an evidence leader and commissioners themselves.
“So, once you have that budget there needs to be an indication to say what are the line items allocations for the budget and why is that important.”
Motau also referenced the Zondo commission, whose budget ballooned to R1bn saying there were lessons that needed to be taken from that period as some people went unpaid despite the money poured into the commission.
“People say that the [Zondo] commission spent over a billion rand, but towards the end, people worked the last two months without getting paid. So with those lessons you're coming to this [commission], you want to avoid that.”
To be able to perform a task of this nature, once the government says they have given you a budget of R147m... it's not a lot of money for a task such as this one,
— Adv Terry Motau
Motau also said he was not worried that he wouldn't be properly remunerated but reiterated the importance of a budget allocation to avoid running out of money.
“It impacts how you allocate tasks, who you allocate tasks to, and just a practical example, to avoid running out of budget when you know what has happened to previous commissions.
“If you know how much is allocated to evidence leaders, then it determines when the first consultations occur and are those done by juniors who will produce first statements and senior councils would only get involved later or you consult with witness that is seniors and junior at the same time,” he said.
He said that maybe other people are continuing with the work without the “information that was needed”.
According to Motau, he had informed justice Madlanga that he intends to resign as early as September 11, seven days before the public hearings commenced.
He also said should the allegations of criminality, political influence, and corruption be substantiated with evidence, it would be irresponsible for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to drop the ball.
“I remain positive that the commission will do its job, and if the evidence is backed up given also the heightened public interest, there is no room and scope for the NPA to drop the ball,” he said.
The commission is on break till Monday, October 13. The hearings were postponed after crime intelligence head in the SAPS Lt-Gen Dumisani Khumalo fell ill.
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