Zondo will continue:
Justice & correctional services minister Ronald Lamola gave the assurance in the National Assembly on Wednesday that the government would ensure the Zondo commission was able to finish its work despite it not receiving any allocation in last week’s budget.
Lamola said in a reply to a question by African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart that the commission investigating state capture had so far spent about R800m.
However, though its term of office has been extended by three months to end-June, it has not received any additional funds for two years in a row. In the 2019 budget, it was allocated an extra R272.9m, but has received nothing since then.
In 2020, the department of justice, to which the commission reports, reprioritised its budget to fund the commission after the high court granted it an extension to March 2021.
“We are in engagement with the National Treasury to ensure that the commission does complete its work,” Lamola said.
Finance minister Tito Mboweni said during a briefing after his budget speech that the “perpetual extension” of the inquiry into state capture was not ideal.
“The [state capture commission] just keeps going on and on. It must end at some stage. I don’t think I’m going to sign up on another tranche of cash to the commission, they must finish their work,” Mboweni said.
Lamola also replied to a question by EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi about the “refusal and/or delay” by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in prosecuting former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste for alleged insider trading, fraud and corporate corruption.
He said the NPA had not yet decided whether to institute charges against Jooste. The matter had been under investigation since early 2018, but Lamola said it was a highly complex investigation involving forensic investigations into thousands of foreign and local transactions that required applications for mutual legal assistance relating to different bank accounts in various countries.
The Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s investigation into allegations of insider trading had been finalised recently and the Hawks had registered the case docket for a criminal investigation into possible insider trading. A team of prosecutors was guiding the investigation.
“Once the investigations are finalised, the NPA will make an announcement and [the] suspect or suspects will be charged with all the charges the state intends to bring against them in one trial,” Lamola said.
He rejected the EFF’s allegations that the delay in arrests was because Jooste and Steinhoff were white, saying the NPA was dealing with the matter without fear, favour or prejudice and with no regard to the colour of the skin of those involved.
“The NPA is serious about dealing with white-collar crime, including private sector corruption [and] fraud committed by companies and private persons,” Lamola said.
The NPA was collaborating with other law enforcement units such as the anti-corruption task team to prioritise and monitor the investigation of these matters with a view to ensuring their speedy enrolments in the court.
The NPA was undergoing a process of resourcing the special commercial crimes unit tasked with guiding the investigation and prosecution of complex commercial crime cases, including private sector corruption and fraud. Additional prosecutor posts were being created and contract prosecutors were being appointed for three years to strengthen efforts to fight white-collar crime.
Additional courts would also start operating in the new financial year.