South Africa’s Commission of Inquiry into State Capture chairman, Justice Raymond Zondo on Wednesday said it was not possible to deliver the entire report by end of December as earlier envisaged – but would present the first of the three-part work by the end of the year.
Due to this development, Zondo said the commission would approach the High Court to grant it an extension of two months until February 2022 when it expects to hand over its entire report in three tranches to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zondo, who is deputy chief justice, explained that while the commission had been working to have the final report ready by the end of December as previously reported, this was not entirely possible.
“Our recent assessment of the work has revealed that, while parts of the report relating to certain work streams or state-owned entities (SOEs) and topics will be ready before the end of December, there are some parts that relate to other work streams or SOEs or topics that will still need further work beyond the end of December – if the commission is not to compromise the quality of the report,” Zondo said.
He added: “Although the president would have liked to receive a complete report by the end of December, he understands the commission’s position.”
As a result, the first two reports will, “for all intents and purposes, constitute the first and second interim reports of the commission’s work. And Part III will be the commission’s final report,” Zondo said.
“It will be possible to deliver Part I of the report to the president before the end of December, Part II before the end of January 2022 and Part III before the end of February 2022,” he said.
There would be no need for extra funding to complete the work, Zondo said, adding that current funding was adequate to see the commission through until February 2022.
NM/jn/APA