On Tuesday, the chairperson of the commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture and acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo handed part one of the commission’s report to President Cyril Ramaphosa. As expected, the release, albeit of just part one of the the three-part report, has made headlines and raised expectations.
We understand the excitement the handover has elicited but that the commission needed to have the report divided into sections and that Zondo has applied for an extension to the initial deadline for handover speaks volumes of the task the commission faced.
In an interview on TV on Tuesday, former public protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela, on whose watch the office of the public protector ordered that there be a commission of inquiry, said the original terms and conditions were extended to cover a wider base by then president Jacob Zuma. It meant the scope to be covered by the commission was widened, and therefore the original time that was allocated would obviously not be sufficient to cover the ground.
Subsequently, not once but twice, Zondo applied to have the deadline moved, and has now sought to have more time to conclude and hand over all of the report. This all points to how wide the cancer of state capture had spread.
The ball, in a manner of speaking, is now in the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) court as the reports made several recommendations for further probes and prosecution of implicated individuals, such as former Eskom and Transnet boss Brian Molefe and former SA Revenue Service commissioner Tom Monyane, who have been accused of facilitating and aiding the state capture project in their respective roles.
The nation has watched, often in awe, for two years as the commission sat through testimonies by those accusing others of corruption and the counter arguments of the accused.
Corruption in this country has clearly reached industrial proportions and nothing short of a firm indication that it is being dealt with seriously and being uprooted thoroughly is acceptable. The NPA now needs to show that it can fully do what is asked of it, otherwise the billions of rand invested in the commission would all have been in vain should the culprits we have witnessed squirming under scrutiny get away with proverbial murder.
If this country is to be pulled fully free from the path of self-destruction, which the state capture mandarins meant to lead SA on, then prosecution and punishment of the guilty is non-negotiable.
In pursuit of that, we urge the NPA to prioritise the prosecution of those accused and thereby send out an unequivocal message that there are no untouchable holy cows.
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