'Leave no stone unturned' - Ramaphosa welcomes Parliament probe
12 June 2019
The Presidency has welcomed Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's announcement at the state capture commission of inquiry on Monday that he will establish a task team to look into how Parliament has exercised its oversight capacity over the years.
Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Khusela Diko, told News24 that while an investigation into Parliament was for Zondo to decide, the president "is on record having said that he [has given] maximum support to the work of the commission and the commission must leave no stone unturned when getting to the bottom of what really transpired as it relates to state capture".
Commission spokesperson, Reverend Mbuyiselo Stemela, said Zondo has not yet put his plan into action.
"The deputy chief justice at the commission said he would ask the commission to look into [Parliament] and the commission will confirm when the details are ready," he said.
The testimony of the head of the financial surveillance department at South African Reserve Bank (SARB), Shiwa Mazibuko, on Monday prompted Zondo to admit that Parliament should be investigated.
"It may well be that if Parliament played its oversight role, some of the challenges may have been dealt with early."
Mazibuko told the commission that the police had failed to act or update the SARB on exchange control contravention cases reported to law enforcement agencies. He also noted that Parliament did little to pressure the agencies to do more, IOL reported.
Mazibuko noted that the SARB had reported 64 cases of alleged illicit flows of money to the police in four years from 2015.
Zondo again wondered whether Parliament could have acted earlier and more decisively.
"One of the things I am going to do is establish a special task team to look at how Parliament exercised oversight over the years in regard to issues of state capture and corruption. It may well be that, as I have said a few times since last year, if Parliament had played its oversight role, some of the challenges may have been dealt with early."
The deputy chief justice said the probe would look at why Parliament's various committees failed to exercise their authority and responsibilities.
