Chief Justice Raymond Zondo Allowed to Make Changes to State Capture Report, Rules Court

• The Pretoria high court ruled that Chief justice Raymond Zondo is allowed to make changes to the State Capture Report
• The errors that need correcting include fixing typos and an analysis of the evidence of two witnesses
• The commission chair apologized for the inconvenience caused by the mistakes and attributed them to exhaustion

PRETORIA - Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has been given the green light to make changes to the State Capture Report following his application to the Pretoria high court in August. The chairperson of the commission said the corrections would be in the public interest and would not prejudice anyone.

Gauteng Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba ruled on Wednesday, 5 October, that the corrected version of two volumes of the report could be delivered to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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The errors that require correcting are typos, the amendment to figures that were mistakenly included and an analysis of the evidence of two witnesses, which was mistakenly omitted.

According to TimesLIVE, Zondo said that as the commission chairperson, he takes responsibility for the omissions and errors. He also apologized for the inconvenience caused by the mistakes and attributed them to exhaustion.

The corrected versions of the report had to be delivered on or before Monday, 10 October. However, Ramaphosa reserved his right to seek more time to report back to parliament due to the amendments.

The Presidency’s Director-General Phindile Baleni said the amendment appeared to be of substance but noted that the president might not be able to report to parliament by the deadline on Saturday, 22 October, SowetanLIVE reported.

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South Africans react to the amendments

Many social media users believe that allowing changes to the State Capture Commission proves that the judiciary is captured:

@bongzmessi said:

“We know what these two gangsters want to do... They want to include in the report names of all potential Cyril’s rivals for the December conference.”

@Gr8Morwa commented:

“The judiciary is becoming a joke every day.”

@NasieOlifant posted:

“This is wrong in many ways so the corrections so he can impact other people to be charged? Can this not be viewed as political interference?”

Acting public protector clears Cyril Ramaphosa on ANC misusing state funds investigation

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported President Cyril Ramaphosa has been cleared by the Public Protector’s office of any awareness that the African National Congress (ANC) was misusing state funds.

Mervyn Dirks, an ANC Member of Parliament, lodged a complaint against the president, citing a violation of the ethics code.

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He accused Ramaposa of failing to cooperate with all relevant authorities by providing evidence and information regarding the ANC misusing state funds, EWN reported.

Source: Briefly News