Once More, The Final State Capture Report Is Postponed

Wednesday marks a week since the state capture commission of inquiry’s court-ordered deadline to wrap up its work and the country is still waiting with bated breath for its fifth and final report.

The report was previously meant to be handed in by the end of April, but Chief Justice and commission chair, Raymond Zondo, then went to court at the last minute and secured an extension to 15 June.

The date came and went, though, with the report still not submitted.

At the weekend, the commission issued a statement saying it hadn’t been able to finalise the report in time but that an electronic copy would be submitted to the president on Saturday and a hard copy, on Monday.

But once more, it didn’t happen. The commission announced in its most recent statement that Wednesday would now be the official handover day.

The president’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, announced on Twitter that the long-awaited fifth and final report from the state capture commission of investigation will no longer be delivered officially as scheduled with only hours to spare.

The commission later announced that the handover will now take place on Wednesday due to difficulties encountered in processing the report.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has criticized the delay and the justification as “wrong and deeply unethical,” claiming that the only reasonable conclusion is that President Cyril Ramaphosa is trying to delay the report’s release because “it directly implicates him in state capture” and because of the farm theft scandal in which he is currently embroiled.

John Steenhuisen, the leader of the party, has requested an explanation from the Chief Justice and the President regarding the nature of their alleged meeting and the circumstances behind its approval.

The Zondo commission of inquiry’s final report is still pending, the Presidency has refuted claims that it has meddled with the courts.