Ramaphosa releases part 3 of Zondo Commission report

President Cyril Ramaphosa has released the third volume of the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector.

The Presidency published the third part of the report on Tuesday evening after it was presented to the Director-General in The Presidency, Phindile Baleni, by the Secretary of the Commission, Itumeleng Mosala.

Acting Chief Justice and Commission Chairperson Judge Raymond Zondo presented the first volume of the report to President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings, Pretoria, on 4 January 2022. The second volume was handed to the Presidency on 1 February 2022.

The latest report focuses on Bosasa and the corruption allegations surrounding the company, and implicates, among others, Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and former president Jacob Zuma.

Read the latest report here

Among others, the first report fingered Mzwanele Manyi as one of the “enablers” of state capture during his tenure as director-general (DG) of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS).

According to the report, the act of replacing former GCIS DG Themba Maseko with Manyi was one of the earliest acts of state capture by the Guptas.

The commission was appointed in January 2018 by former president Jacob Zuma, after the release of the state capture report by former public protector Thuli Madonsela and an order by the Pretoria High Court compelling Zuma to appoint the inquiry to investigate allegations of wide-scale corruption and looting by his close associates and the controversial Gupta family.

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The inquiry started its work on 21 August 2018 and has heard the testimony of more than 330 witnesses.

Since then, the Zondo commission has had to deal with several delays in completing its work, including the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria recently granted the Commission an additional two months – to the end of April 2022 – to complete its work.

Commensurately, the High Court granted the President an extension of four months from receipt of the full report to present to Parliament an implementation plan in response to the report.

Additional reporting by Thapelo Lekabe