Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo at the State Capture Commission in Braamfontein on 4 November 2020. Picture: Neil McCartney
The Democratic Alliance (DA) saw its efforts to push Parliament to start processing the reports of the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture squashed.
During the National Assembly’s Programming Committee meeting on Thursday morning, DA deputy chief whip Siviwe Gwarube proposed that Parliament prepare to address the contents of the report before President Cyril Ramaphosa hands it over.
The commission, chaired by Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, was granted another extension until 15 June to complete its work.
This means that Ramaphosa has about four months to table a plan in Parliament on how he will deal with the commission’s recommendations upon receipt of the final report.
“We probably looking at around October for that to happen,” Gwarube told MPs on Thursday.
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She pointed out that the president would table a report with an action plan as it pertains to the functions of the executive.
“But now what we are seeing is that there are sections of the report which pertain to the functions of Parliament, or at least where Parliament would have erred or where there are gaps in Parliament.
“So what I am asking is that we amend the time table or at least the process that you had put forward because once the final report in June lands… there’s absolutely no reason why Parliament cannot start its own process or set up its systems to look specifically at the role of Parliament as it pertains to state capture and how and where we will deal with sections of the report,” Gwarube said.
But ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina was against such a move.
“We, as Parliament, have not instituted a state capture commission. It was through the president and Cabinet and therefore in accordance with the rules, the president has to bring the report formally to Parliament, then we can act,” she said.
“I don’t understand why we should jump the gun and not wait for the actual report to be tabled so we can follow due processes.
READ MORE: State capture: President Ramaphosa dodges the Bosasa bullet
“The report is not going to vanish anywhere. We are going to deal with it as Parliament, but we cannot be taking the report piecemeal,” Majodina continued.
Meanwhile, DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone said: “If we don’t deal with the Zondo Commission report ASAP, it is going to be a case of the country looking at us and saying typical Parliament.”
Responding to this, National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula insisted that Parliament was committed to processing the State Capture reports.
She said the delay in receiving the report did not mean Parliament was not acting on the reports that have already been released.
“Of course Parliament has committed that once the President sends the report to Parliament after four months, in fact the president will not just be providing us with a report, he will be submitting a plan of action on how to deal with the recommendations on the Zondo Commission report.
“Parliament will then deal [with] among others with areas which directly affect their work of oversight in the different portfolios. So there is no doubt that Parliament will deal with the Zondo report,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
READ MORE: NPA to prioritise state capture cases over next 12 months, says Batohi
“Fact there’s a delay in doing so because we are waiting for the president to make that submission does not in any way take away the responsibility. We are not shying away from dealing with the Zondo report,” the Speaker added.
The secretary to the National Assembly, Masibulele Xaso, revealed that Ramaphosa had already submitted part 3 of the report to Parliament.
In the latest report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo slammed Parliament as well as Cabinet for missing the audacious capture of vital government institutions such as Eskom.