The United Democratic Movement (UDM) has called on Parliament to consider appointing a retired judge to look into information or evidence that the state capture commission of inquiry might have missed.
Zondo Commission
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa on Monday wrote a letter to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula claiming that his party submitted evidence of state capture to the commission, but it seemed the information might have been deliberately ignored.
This follows a report in the Sunday Independent, earlier this month, alleging an explosive affidavit implicating several high-profile individuals and politicians in corruption was disregarded by the commission that was chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
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In his letter to Maphisa-Nqakula, Holomisa said the report contained serious allegations that needed to be probed further.
He said the UDM also submitted its own evidence on “the real mastermind behind state capture” to the Zondo Commission in a 56-page correspondence on 23 September 2020.
Holomisa said the commission acknowledged receipt of the correspondence, but no findings were made on their submissions in Justice Zondo’s final report.
“As in the above instance and given its report, the commission also did not seem to consider our submission in the end,” he said in his letter.
‘Deliberate effort to sabotage’
The UDM leader said he wasn’t sure why Justice Zondo did not make findings on his party’s submissions to the commission, saying this might have been due to its resource limitations.
“Parliament is still to consider the Zondo Commission’s report and given that, for whatever reason (be its scope, time or resource limits) the Zondo Commission seemingly did not consider all the documentation/evidence that had been submitted to it.
“It would, therefore, be advisable that Parliament considers appointing a retired judge to look into all the matters which the Zondo Commission did not attend to and to check whether there had not been a deliberate effort to sabotage the Zondo Commission with the exclusion of certain documentation/evidence from the commission.”
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Holomisa alleged that Justice Zondo, his evidence leaders, and President Cyril Ramaphosa were “conflicted” on these matters.
He said there was a need for “new faces” to deal with possible lapses the commission might have committed.
Holomisa called on Maphisa-Nqakula to consult with the Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Deputy President David Mabuza, on his request.
In October last year, Ramaphosa announced a raft of interventions that will be made in response to the recommendations of the inquiry.
This was after he submitted his action plan to Parliament to implement the Zondo Commission’s recommendations.
Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe
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