By Karyn Maughan.
Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has asked that the term of the State Capture Inquiry be extended to 30 April – but says he expects to hand reports on Eskom, Bosasa and the State Security Agency to President Cyril Ramaphosa at the end of this month.
In papers filed at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday, Zondo said the estimated 1500-page document he would provide to Ramaphosa this month is likely to also contain reports on the Free State asbestos and housing projects, the “attempted capture of National Treasury” and the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).
Zondo made it clear that the volumes of the commission’s report that would be delivered to Ramaphosa on 28 February “will not make the Report complete” – a reality that he took full responsibility for.
According to a list of topics provided by Zondo, the last report the commission would deliver would address “the closure of the Gupta bank accounts and the Cabinet response”, the Estina Dairy Project, “Parliamentary Oversight”, SABC and ANN7, EOH and the City of Johannesburg and “The Big Picture.”
As he has done in previous extension applications, Zondo said he had underestimated the amount of time that the inquiry needed to complete its work and had also faced challenges in accessing the documents and material required to complete certain sections of work.
He nevertheless stressed that he and his team had been working “all kinds of hours, weekends and public holidays – in order to try and complete the Report by the end of February 2022 but this is not going to be achieved”.
Zondo also said his efforts to complete the report had been hampered by the grueling Chief Justice interview he had been subjected to by the Judicial Service Commission – which he said had left him exhausted and requiring three days of rest.
Zondo’s urgent application for an extension of his commission is expected to be heard on 22 February.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.