Gigaba, Singh back at state capture commission

THE Commission of Inquiry into

State Capture is today set to continue with evidence from former Transnet chief financial officer Anoj Singh and former Public Enterprises and Finance minister Malusi Gigaba.

The commission, which is striving to wrap up its proceedings in the next two weeks, is at the tail end of hearings.

The commission this week heard various applications for leave to crossexamine witnesses.

Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo maintained that since the commission was running out of time, he had decided that he would not make findings where evidence was one-sided.

He said instead he would refer incomplete work to other law enforcement agencies.

One of the applicants who applied to cross-examine implicated parties is Werksmans Attorneys, which decided to withdraw its bid to question former Passenger Rail Agency of SA chief Lucky Montana. The law firm cited the reason for the withdrawal as the fact that it was satisfied with testimony presented before the commission and would rely on two affidavits which included Montana’s evidence.

Former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s application to cross-examine former chief executive Lulama Mokhobo and former communications minister Yunus Carrim was dismissed.

Justice Zondo said it was not in the interests of justice to grant him leave to cross-examine Mokhobo and Carrim.

Motsoeneng was, however, allowed to submit a written affidavit.

Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate boss Robert McBride and former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen will no longer face cross-examination at the state capture proceedings.

Instead, those who applied to cross-examine them would also make written submissions of their versions of events.

Legal representatives of those implicated by McBride and Booysen, including advocate Anthony Mosing, advocate Sello Maema and advocate Andrew Chauke, made a joint submission to rather submit a written summary of their versions instead of cross-examining McBride and Booysen.

They submitted that issues raised by McBride and Booysen were intertwined with other issues raised by other witnesses and cross-examination of the two alone “would not serve any purpose”.

The legal teams said they should be able to summarise the “critical versions” of their clients’ testimonies and these should be read out on the designated days at the end of this month.

Cross-examination of McBride and Booysen was set down for June 25 and 28 respectively.

Justice Zondo this week dismissed lobby group AfriForum’s attempt to cross-examine President Cyril Ramaphosa.

He said that for a person to apply for leave to cross-examine someone, that person should have been implicated by the other party. Justice Zondo said he did not recall AfriForum being implicated by Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa is expected to return to the commission in the next two weeks to give evidence on state capture in his capacity as leader of the nation.