Cosatu calls for swift prosecution of those implicated by Zondo report

If the proposals made in the report of the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture are not implemented the document will be useless, Cosatu said on Thursday.

The trade union federation's spokesperson Sizwe Pamla was commenting on the 874-page document handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday in which high-profile politicians, businesspeople and individuals are implicated in corruption and looting of taxpayers' money.

Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo chaired the commission over the past four years.

Part 1 of the state capture report includes three volumes focusing on allegations relating to SAA and its associated entities, the Gupta-owned The New Age newspaper and the alleged abuse of millions of rand in government advertising, and events at the SA Revenue Service.

Pamla welcomed the report, saying the proposals were “progressive”.

“The Auditing Act was amended in 2018 and enables the state to hold personally financially liable any politician or manager implicated in corruption and wasteful expenditure.

“Government needs to show decisive leadership and action in the fight against corruption and state capture if we are to turn the tide,” he said.

SA was struggling to provide jobs, education and affordable healthcare for its citizens because of the looting over the past two decades, he said.

“We hope that the report will not be another waste of money like the Seriti commission report that was looking into the arms deal.

“The federation remains unhappy with the slow progress when it comes to prosecuting those implicated in corruption. There are no excuses any more. We demand action now. A lot of money has been spent on investigating corruption allegations by the Zondo commission and workers demand value for their tax.”

Pamla urged finance minister Enoch Godongwana to allocate adequate resources to the National Prosecuting Authority, the Special Investigating Unit and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation to ensure that they appoint enough investigators and prosecutors to deal with cases originating from the report and corruption in general.

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