State capture inquiry to only ask questions on important issues, says deputy chief justice Zondo

When the inquiry into state capture resumes, witnesses will only be asked questions on important issues, not on everything, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo said on Wednesday.

Addressing the media, Zondo said the commission was expected to resume in the last week of June or at the beginning of July.

On why witnessed would not be asked questions on everything and instead on important issues, Zondo, said: “That will give us more time to have more evidence than we did before.”

Zondo said the commission needed some time to finalise and clarify the list of witnesses and those who would be travelling to Gauteng. It would also need to look at how its investigators will travel between provinces.

He said the commission would do things differently when hearings resumed like asking witnesses to confirm if written testimonies were theirs before they testified.

He would not say how many witnesses the commission was expecting to give evidence when the hearings resumed.

“We will hear a small number of witnesses. The process of identifying others and sifting is ongoing. We won’t have as many public hearings as we did in the past two years,” he said.

Asked if witnesses would be required to testify at the hearing or if they could give evidence on a virtual platform, Zondo said he preferred that they physically attend the hearing.

Zondo said the commission would prioritise evidence relating to the public protector (PP) reports when hearings resumed.

“These are issues that revolve around the Gupta family and their entities. We will try to finish issues that do not fall under the PP.”

He said a certain number of the commission personnel would return to work on June 15 and allow others to work from home.

Zondo said he had consulted President Cyril Ramaphosa during the lockdown to update him on the work of the commission and the challenges it faces.

“He made it clear that he supports the work of the commission.”

Zondo said he was confident that the commission would finish its work by the cut-off date of March 2021.

“The will and determination to finish is there. There must be nothing we leave out without applying our minds to it.”