Zondo Commission confirms it’s asking for another two month extension

The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture on Friday confirmed that it had approached the High Court in Pretoria seeking a further extension of its term until 30 April 2022.

Should the commission’s court application succeed, this means that its final report, that was meant to be delivered to President Cyril Ramaphosa on 28 February, will not be its last report.

Zondo Commission extension

In a statement, the commission’s secretary Reverend Mbuyiselo Stemela said if the extension is granted, the inquiry would submit “the balance of its report either at the end of April or part of it at the end of March, and the last part at the end of April 2022”.

The commission’s chairperson, acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, has already submitted parts one and two of the inquiry’s report to the Presidency in December 2021 and January this year, respectively.

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The Zondo Commission said it would still submit to Ramaphosa further volumes of its report at the end of this month, but the report will not be complete. The report will reportedly focus on Eskom, Bosasa, and the State Security Agency (SSA).

“The commission will deliver to the president further volumes of its report at the end of February, which are likely to run into about 1500 pages.

“That will be about the size of the volumes that made part one and part two of its report which were delivered at the end of December 2021 and at the end of January 2022 respectively. This will mean that by the end of February the report that the commission will have delivered to the president will run into about 3000 pages of detailed analysis of evidence, findings and recommendations,” Stemela said.

Reasons for delays

The commission said the delay in submitting the full final report was due to a number of factors out of its control.

Stemela said: “This is regrettable but this is due to a number of factors including the fact that the chairperson had to take some time to prepare for his Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview for Chief Justice and to rest after that interview as well as the fact that he needs more time to go through further documents on certain topics submitted to him and that some of those who are assisting him with documents relating to the report have needed mom time to complete them or will submit them too close to the deadline or will need beyond the end of February to submit them.”

Zondo wished to make it clear to South Africans that the delay in submitting the final report was not due to any neglect of duty, as the commission wanted to do a proper job.

“In conclusion, it is hoped that all concerned will appreciate that the report that the commission will have delivered to the president by the end of February will, by any standards, be a substantial report.”

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