President Jacob Zuma. (Gallo Images)
“Terms of Reference”: What they will mean for the State Capture inquiry
The State Capture inquiry looks like it is actually finally about to begin. Just one more thing is needed: The terms of reference. We took a look at what that means and why they’re so important.
President Jacob Zuma. (Gallo Images)
On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo addressed the media and made it very clear that he is ready to go with the State Capture Inquiry. To get the show on the road officially, though, he needed one thing: The “terms of reference”.
A day after Zondo’s comments, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development announced that the terms of reference for the commission of inquiry will be released on Thursday.
The terms of reference have been a huge cause of debate in the ruling party. To understand why, we have to know exactly what “terms of reference” are, especially in the context of this particular inquiry.
Terms of reference – Explained
The “terms of reference” effectively refer to what parts of “State Capture” will be investigated by Deputy Chief Justice Zondo.
As we’ve mentioned, this has been a particularly contentious issue as the ANC itself has struggled to agree how far back the inquiry should go. While ANC President Ramaphosa and others want the investigation to just focus primarily on the Gupta/ Zuma links mentioned in Thuli Madonsela’s report, other ANC members had called for it to look all the way back into dealings by the apartheid government.
“It is important that the terms of reference are in keeping with the public protector’s report. We should not contaminate this commission by saying we should go back to 1652” Ramaphosa told eNCA two weeks ago.”
“This one [report] is very clear, we are talking about things that happened now, where there are clear leads,” Ramaphosa told eNCA two weeks ago.
While we don’t have the specific terms of reference yet, it seems Ramaphosa has won the battle as Zondo confirmed that everything he investigates will be from the Public Protector’s report.
Once the terms of reference are ready to go, we can expect Justice Zondo to begin making the necessary appointments in terms of a team to help him investigate and look at the evidence.
“I will investigate ANYBODY and EVERYBODY, no matter who he or she is, in terms of my reference.” – Deputy Cheif Justice Raymond Zondo
Will South Africans finally begin to see the wheels of justice turn against the capturers of our state? We’re certainly moving in the right direction.
