/ 26 March 2018

Public Protector shares 110 files with state capture inquiry

Busisiwe Mkhwebane's predecessor
Busisiwe Mkhwebane's predecessor

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has shared 17 boxes of documents, emanating from her state capture commission investigation, with Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, as he prepares for the upcoming judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.

Mkhwebane’s office on Monday released a statement indicating it had met with Zondo in Johannesburg last week to discuss the inquiry’s pending commencement.

“The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the sharing of the record of the investigation into allegations of state capture as the commission prepares to commence work,” Public Protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said.

“The record includes documentary evidence and transcripts of meetings and interviews, among other things.

“It has been packaged into 110 lever arch files and 17 boxes and shipped off to the Commission.”

Mkhwebane’s predecessor, Thuli Madonsela, published a report titled State of Capture as her last act in office in October 2016, which had recommended the establishment of the commission.

The office has also compiled and published other work related to the matter, including a 2014 investigation into the failed Vrede Dairy farm project.

Amended regulation

President Cyril Ramaphosa, meanwhile, has made a technical amendment concerning criminal culpability in the regulations guiding the state capture inquiry on Friday.

“On the basis of legal advice, the president has amended regulation 8(2) to limit the inadmissibility of such evidence to circumstances where a witness may incriminate themselves,” the Presidency said in a statement.

The change Ramaphosa ordered came after submissions received by the Presidency from the Helen Suzman Foundation and AfriForum, which suggested that the regulation may undermine efforts to prosecute anybody implicated in criminal activity.

The regulation now reads: “A self-incriminating answer or a statement given by a witness before the commission shall not be admissible as evidence against that person in any criminal proceedings brought against that person instituted in any court, except in criminal proceedings where the person concerned is charged with an offence in terms of section 6 of the Commissions Act, 1947 (Act No. 8 of 1947).”

The commission of inquiry was part of the recommendations made by Madonsela in her State of Capture report.

Former president Jacob Zuma released the terms of reference for the inquiry in January this year.

It will investigate whether, by whom, and to what extent, attempts were made, through any form of inducement or for any gain, to influence members of the national executive, including deputy ministers, office bearers and directors of the boards of state-owned entities.

It will also investigate all forms of government corruption, including allegations against Zuma, his Cabinet ministers, the Gupta family and state-owned entities. — News 24