Thuli Madonsela welcomes ‘great day’, as state capture report to be handed over

Former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela has shared her thoughts ahead of the release of the first part of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture’s report.

The commission’s chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, is set to hand over the first part of report to President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings in Pretoria at 3:30pm on Tuesday.

The handover will be streamed live, the Presidency confirmed on Monday.

This also comes after the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday struck civil rights organisation Democracy in Action’s application to interdict the president from receiving the first part one of the report off the court roll.

‘Five years later’

During an interview on Newzroom Afrika, Madonsela described the anticipated release of the report as “a great day”, saying it was time, “five years later”, for South Africans to learn the truth regarding the state capture allegations.

The former Public Protector also acknowledged that the public may be skeptical of the report when it’s released.

“People are always skeptical and people don’t go in the same direction, but I have said in the last five years, let’s give the commission a chance [and hear] what it has to say,” she said.

Madonsela indicated that the investigation she conducted during her tenure as Public Protector was “a very simple investigation”.

ALSO READ: Zondo ‘cannot say’ whether Zuma was the architect of state capture

“Was the state captured to support the businesses that were co-owned by the president’s son and the Gupta family, And the rest of it is detail,” the former Public Protector stated.

She also said: “It is not my place to judge how the commission was run” by its chairperson, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.

The 2016 report – penned by Madonsela – contained allegations of an improper relationship between former president Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family.

In her report, Madonsela recommended that a judicial commission of inquiry be set up to investigate the Gupta family’s influence on Cabinet appointments and state-owned entities’ boards and tenders. This gave rise to the establishment of the Zondo Commission.

Extension

The commission was granted a sixth extension last month after Zondo had requested that he be given until the end of February 2022 to submit the report in its entirety.

Zondo, who has heard evidence for 418 days, previously revealed that the commission had collected 71,000 pages in submissions from more than 300 witnesses ever since the inquiry began its work.

READ MORE: State Capture will have far reaching consequences for SA, says Ramaphosa

The commission was announced in early 2018 and tasked with investigating allegations of state capture along with public sector corruption and fraud.

The inquiry began its work in August of that year and was initially given 180 days to wrap up.

The commission has spent more than R1 billion to date.