By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has tabled the fourth part of the State Capture Commission report with Parliament on Tuesday after it was released by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
The commission handed part four of the report last month and it dealt with Eskom, Alexkor, the City of Johannesburg and technology company EOH.
On Tuesday Parliament confirmed it had received part four of the report from Ramaphosa.
It said it was also in the process of implementing part three of the report, which dealt with Bosasa.
According to Parliament spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, the President has already submitted the third tranche of the report to Parliament which has flagged some past and present members of Parliament.
“Part three of the report identifies several past and present Members of Parliament who are implicated in conduct that may constitute illegal, unlawful, or unethical behaviour. As the aspects of the report have a direct bearing on parliamentary business, the institution has swiftly initiated a processes to implement its recommendations.
“Accordingly, the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interest for Assembly and Parliament Council Members. This applies only to current members who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place,” Mothapo said.
Mothapo, said the tabling of part four of the report came at a time when they were preparing to process part three of the report.
“Part four of the report comes at the time Parliament is finalising the process of establishing appropriate systems and mechanisms, consistent with its constitutional function, to oversee the implementation of the report,” said Mothapo.
He added that although the President is expected to hand over the full report on or before August 31st this year, Parliament has already moved to make sure that it is ready to implement recommendations.
“Parliament’s research department is currently processing the reports, summarising them into, amongst others, action plans to improve Parliament’s execution of its constitutional mandate consistent with the corrective measures contained in the reports.
“Parliament’s Legal Services department has conducted an analysis of the reports and has generated a legal opinion proposing a process Parliament should follow in dealing with the reports once officially submitted,” he said.
Mothapo acknowledged that Parliament is obligated to “implement corrective measures” stemming from the report where it has a “role to play”.