Johannesburg – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa today was handed over the first part of the State Capture Commission report.
During the handover of the report, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo delivered an address to the nation.
He said it was a grueling 4 years of the commission.
Zondo said he would have liked to have handed a complete report over to the president, but they could only hand over the first part.
He said that the first part contains three volumes.
He said the first volume deals with South African Airways and related companies.
Volume two deals with The New Age, Zondo further stated.
He said that volume three of the report deals with the South African Revenue Services and the topic of public procurement in South Africa.
He said that by the end of January, part two will be handed over and at the end of February part three will be handed over.
Look: Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo meets President Cyril Ramaphosa:
President @CyrilRamaphosa receives Chair of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, at the Union Buildings ahead of today’s handover of Part 1 of the State Capture Report. pic.twitter.com/NLbyaLZrHi
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) January 4, 2022
Ramaphosa delivered his address after the report was handed over to him by Zondo.
The president said that the formal handover of the first part of the report marks the beginning of the final phase of the Commission’s work, which will culminate with the submission of the remaining parts of the report by the 28th of February 2022.
Ramaphosa further said, “I should extend my gratitude to the chairperson of the commission, for the extraordinary feat of public service. For 4 years Justice Zondo has pursued this matter with a great deal of patience. We wish him well as he enters the final stretch of the commission’s work.”
“It is important also to recognise the contribution of the former Public Protector, Adv Thuli Madonsela, whose initial investigation into allegations of state capture laid the foundation for the establishment of this Commission of Inquiry. I want to commend the academics, investigators and journalists whose work contributed to uncovering many of the matters before the Commission,” Ramaphosa further stated.
“Lastly, I wish to acknowledge and commend the actions of the South African people, whose shared determination to end corruption and demand clean governance enabled the establishment and work of the Commission,” Ramaphosa said.
Importance of Whistleblowers
Ramaphosa further thanked the many whistleblowers who uncovered corruption in the country.
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, Ramaphosa said, “I will submit the full Commission report to Parliament by the 30th of June 2022 with an indication of my intentions with regards to implementation of the Commission’s recommendations.”
“As I indicated to the Court, only once the final instalment 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. Government will therefore not make pronouncements on the findings nor recommendations of the Commission’s report before having received all parts of the report and having duly considered them. We will, however, commence with the consideration of the parts of the report as they are submitted to the Presidency, and will be putting in place appropriate mechanisms to effectively and thoroughly process the findings and recommendations,” Ramaphosa further said.
The report to be released to the public:
“The people of South Africa fought for the establishment of the Commission, have closely observed the proceedings of the Commission and have the greatest interest in the outcomes of the Commission,” Ramaphosa said.
“I have therefore decided to release to the public each part of the Commission’s report immediately after it is submitted to me. The first part of the Commission Report will therefore be available on the Presidency website within the next few hours,” the president announced.
Watch the handover of the report below:
WATCH LIVE: President @CyrilRamaphosa receives the first part of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture from the Commission’s Chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.https://t.co/m30zKV7ktv
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) January 4, 2022
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Also read: Thuli Madonsela on State Capture Inquiry
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