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Zondo : Commission that changed South African Politics

“The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State CaptureCorruption, and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State” is better known as the “Zondo Commission” or “State Capture Commission”. It is a public inquiry established in January 2018 by former South African President Jacob Zuma to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption, and fraud in the public sector in South Africa.

Zondo : Commission that changed South African Politics Gupta Family
Atul Gupta with South African president Jacob Zuma in 2011

 Corruption scandals dogged the nine-year reign of Jacob Zuma. The most significant allegation on Zuma was his proximity with the Gupta family. The Gupta family is a wealthy Indian-born family with business interests in South Africa. The family owns a business empire spanning computer equipment, media, and mining. Allegations followed that the Guptas had captured the South African state through the influence held over Zuma. The experts dubbed it as state capture

The commission interviewed 300 witnesses and presented a total of 1,731,106 pages of documentary evidence and one exabyte of data evidence. Moreover, the Commission conducted formal hearings on more than 400 days and its reports changed the South African Politics forever.

Here is a brief summary of the report of the commission compiled by our Africa analyst Adam Dlamini

Part 1

Part 1 was released on Tuesday 4 January 2022. It has three volumes with the first volume focused on corruption within the state owned South African Airways, the second on findings relating to the Gupta family, and the third on the South African Revenue Service and recommendations to reform the government procurement system.

Some notable finding of part 1 of the Zondo Commission found the following:

South African Airways

Former South African Airways (SAA) chairperson Dudu Myeni
Dudu Myeni

Former South African Airways (SAA) chairperson Dudu Myeni and her fellow board member and counterpart at the airline’s subsidiary SAA Technical, Yakhe Kwinana, oversaw a state-owned entity riddled with corruption during their terms, and fueled a culture of bullying, fear and purging of executives who did not agree with their agenda. 

The appointment of Dudu Myeni as chairperson of SAA by then-President Zuma had caused “sustainable damage” to the company.

Recommendations:

South African Revenue Service

Zondo : Commission that changed South African Politics Moyane
Tom Moyane is a South African development economist and former commissioner of the South African Revenue Service.

The report recommended that:

Gupta family

This is the most explosive revelation made by the Zondo Commission:

The report recommended that:

African National Congress

Part 2: Transnet

Part 2 was published on 1 February 2022 and announced findings on corruption and maladministration within the state-owned companies Denel, Eskom and Transnet. The following notable findings were made:

Three main corrupt deals to procure 1,259 locomotives with China South Rail, China North Rail, General Electric, and Bombardier Transportation.

Part 3: Bosasa

Zondo : Commission that changed South African Politics. Bosasa
Former president Jacob Zuma with Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson. 

Part 3 was published on 1 March 2022 and focused on findings relating to corruption relating to the privately owned state contractor BOSASA. Following the release of part 3 the commission’s findings were criticized by allies of Jacob Zuma. It made the following notable findings regarding government’s interactions with state service provider BOSASA:

Part 4

Part 4 of the commission’s findings was divided into four volumes and published on the morning of 29 April 2022.


Recently Zondo Commission also presented the final report. We will cover the report in the subsequent investigative reports.

Zondo : Commission that changed South African Politics. Presidency.
Statement by the current President Cyril Ramaphosa on the Zondo Commission

These revelations and following changes in South Africa changed its politics forever. It changed the mindset of people at large and they started questioning the authorities.

“I don’t want to make anybody think that this report is all you need to rid South Africa of state capture or to make sure that state capture never happens again, but I do believe that it will, the recommendations that have been made, if they are implemented, will make a significant contribution to that goal,”

Zondo

Adam Dlamini compiled this report from various credible sources and original report
Adam Dlamini (Africa Analyst of Ij-reportika)


Sources:


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