D-Day for Ramaphosa’s plan of action on state capture report

After much anticipation, the day has dawned for President Cyril Ramaphosa to submit his action plan for the implementation of the Zondo Commission inquiry’s 358 recommendations to Parliament.

In line with a court order, Ramaphosa was mandated to table the state capture report and his action plan to Parliament within four months of receiving it.

Interventions

Parliament has already started establishing “appropriate systems” to process and oversee the implementation of Zondo’s reports.

The Joint Ethics Committee, in May, was directed to investigate possible contraventions of the parliamentary code of conduct during the state capture era.

ALSO READ: Amended state capture report released

This applies to current members, who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place.

Deadlines

Ramaphosa during a Q&A session in Parliament in September said: “We are looking to see how it touches on our own implementation deadlines, [but] the implementation plan is being finalised. The political will is there.

“When we bring the implementation plan to Parliament that is when the will of the government will become clear that indeed we are serious and we have the will to do so.”

Ramaphosa also said the plan would indicate which recommendations have been prioritised for implementation.

Public protector to monitor recommendations

Meanwhile, acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka said her office had a pivotal role to play to ensure that the Zondo Commission’s recommendations are implemented.

Gcaleka told Parliament on Thursday night that a team had already been set up to monitor this, EWN reported.

She said that her team was already analysing the Zondo Commission report.

“It is important as it will also assist us with some of the reforms we have been suggesting to government to ensure that we lessen some of the governance gaps that have been taking place.”

Amended report

Earlier this month, Ramaphosa released the amended version of the state capture report, reflecting corrections by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

Zondo was given the green light to make slight amendments to the report.

The chief justice, who chaired the State Capture Commission, had approached the Pretoria High Court in August seeking approval to fix mistakes in the report, which included numerous grammatical and language errors and wrong figures.

Zondo was also been given permission to add an analysis of the evidence of two witnesses, which was unintentionally left out in the final report.

ALSO READ: Zondo allowed to fix mistakes on State Capture report, court rules