Zondo ‘can propose charges’ after inquiry
• Justice minister says judge leading state-capture inquiry has the power to recommend prosecution
Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo will be able to recommend criminal prosecution at the conclusion of the state capture inquiry, says Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha. It would be up to Zondo and the commission to decide whom to invite or subpoena to testify at the commission, Masutha said.
Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo will be able to recommend criminal prosecution at the conclusion of the state-capture inquiry, says Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha.
It would be up to Zondo and the commission to decide whom to invite or subpoena to testify at the commission, Masutha said.
The probe will look into malfeasance in which high-profile politicians, including President Jacob Zuma, have been implicated. Regulations for the inquiry were published in the Government Gazette on Friday, giving Zondo the legal powers to start the proceedings.
The scope of the commission was gazetted in January but its work could not start until Zuma signed the regulations.
Zondo’s powers have been proclaimed in line with the wide scope that former public protector Thuli Madonsela gave in her remedial action contained in her State of Capture report, published at the end of 2016.
She recommended that the inquiry be established and a judge be selected by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, stating that Zuma was too conflicted to select a judge to lead the probe.
Zuma’s son Duduzane and his friends the Guptas were at the heart of the state capture allegations detailed in Madonsela’s report.
“He [Zondo] can recommend criminal action, which will be in the form of the necessary criminal justice machinery taking it up and making sure that the necessary further investigations are completed if that is necessary, and that prosecutorial decisions are taken and that if a decision to prosecute happens, that the matter comes before a criminal court for trial or prosecution,” Masutha said.
He emphasised that no one could be tried and prosecuted in any other proceedings besides in a criminal prosecution in court.
The evidence drawn from any source could not automatically stand in a criminal court, as the burden of proof differed between a criminal trial and an inquiry or even a civil case.
The testimony heard in the inquiry would therefore have to be rerun in a criminal trial, if Zondo did recommend criminal action be taken, he said.
Among other things, Zondo will have the power to appoint his own staff, along with the members of the commission and where the commission must sit.
The commission also has the power to determine its own procedures. Anybody can be called to testify before the commission, and witnesses, with limited exception, must answer all questions posed to them.
Masutha said the government had already indicated that it would make the necessary resources available to Zondo, but that it was too early to give an indication on how much the work of the commission would cost, as the deputy chief justice still had to appoint his staff.