Court allows Zondo to correct state capture report

The Pretoria high court has approved chief justice Raymond Zondo’s application for corrections to the state capture report that he chaired.

Zondo applied for the corrections in August, saying they were in the public interest and wouldn’t prejudice anyone. The order by Gauteng deputy judge president Aubrey Ledwaba also stipulates that the revised versions of the two volumes of the report be delivered to President Cyril Ramaphosa on or before October 10.

Typos were corrected in volume 2 of Part VI, while volume 3 of Part VI revises some figures.

The commission may also add an analysis of the evidence of two witnesses, which was mistakenly omitted when the report was delivered on June 22, according to the order.

Ledwaba also condoned the late delivery of the final instalment of the report and ordered that the commission be allowed to give the president “a version of Volume 4 of Part VI ... that has all the recommendations contained in all the volumes of the report”.

Zondo said the failure to correct language errors and include the document on the two witnesses’ evidence was due to exhaustion “as my team and I pushed ourselves to the limit” to finalise the report. The mistake with the figures was due to formatting and editing when documents were being merged, he said.

“In the end as chairperson of the commission I take responsibility for all these omissions and errors and regret any inconvenience to everybody,” said Zondo.

Ramaphosa did not oppose the application, but reserved his right to seek more time to report back to parliament in light of the amendments.

The amendment “appears to be one of substance,” presidency director-general Phindile Baleni said in answering the application, adding that it might affect the presidency’s ability to report to parliament by its October 22 deadline. 

The president must, in terms of the court’s order, formally submit the state capture commission’s report to parliament and indicate his intentions on its implementation by October 22.

Baleni said the president had gathered a team that was working with other departments and relevant agencies “to determine how most effectively to implement the SCC Report and its recommendations”. 

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