South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has not delayed the delivery of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture report to his office as charged by the country’s opposition, the presidency denied this on Tuesday.
The high office said in a statement it had outlined the sequence of events with respect to “the submission of the final part of the report of the commission to his office to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding on the matter.”
The final part of the commission’s report was due to be handed over to Ramaphosa by 15 June (Wednesday) but Commission chair and Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo, communicated to the president on 16 June (Thursday) of the delay in delivery — and undertook to finalise the report as soon as possible, the presidency said.
This led to the media statement from the commission dated 18 June in which the body stated that it was “not able to submit the final volume of its report to the president on 15 June due to certain “challenges,” it added.
Therefore, the presidency rejected claims that the president had in any manner interfered with the work of the commission or the judiciary as speculated by some opposition parties.
According to the presidency, communication between the Chief Justice and the president had been over the delays in the delivery of the final report and finalising the date for its official handover – and not interference.
The presidency said it would make an announcement once it had received the final report of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Ramaphosa has so far received four parts of the reports — with the Chief Justice handing over the first part on 4 January 2022.
The second, third and fourth reports were handed over on 1 February, 1 March, and 29 April to Phindile Baleni, the Director-General in the Presidency.
NM/as/APA