PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday appointed attorney Christine Qunta as a member of the Myburgh Commission after a commissioner stepped down due to other commitments, the Presidency said. Presidential representative Tasneem Carrim said Qunta was a prominent Cape Town attorney who was also well-known for her writing and poetry. ”(She would) replace Advocate Kgomotso Moroka as a commissioner on the Myburgh Commission due to prior commitments he could not put aside.” Mbeki announced this month that John Myburgh — the former president of the Labour Appeals Court — would head the inquiry into the rand’s collapse, and last week finalised its terms of reference. This followed claims by SA Chamber of Business chief executive Kevin Wakeford that institutions and individuals had enriched themselves at the currency’s expense, evidence of which he handed to the presidency. The commission has been tasked, among other things, to probe whether between January 1 and December 31 last year any person or institution acted illegally or unethically and contributed to the rand’s rapid depreciation relative to other currencies. – Sapa
Tuesday January 29, 2002