“The difficulty about leaving things to further investigations is the crime trail gets cold,” says former public protector Thuli Madonsela.

Madonsela weighed in on state capture inquiry chair and acting chief justice Raymond Zondo’s recommendations for further investigations into those who are implicated in the state capture report. 

Speaking on 702, Madonsela welcomed the release of the report, saying it will give the public a glimpse into SA’s “dysfunctional state”.

However, she said three years after the inquiry heard testimonies, she did not expect it to order further investigations into those implicated. 

“When I ordered a state capture investigation, I ordered it to investigate. Therefore, I didn’t expect it to recommend further investigation. But with that said, we will judge the outcome of this commission of inquiry when we get the final report.

“The difficulty about leaving things to further investigations is that the crime trail gets cold. Every year that goes by, the trail is eroded, people leave the organisation and records are not kept forever. 

“I hope the commission has done what it could so if it says further investigations, it’s brushing off things and not starting from square one.”

Madonsela was appointed public protector in 2009, and her “state of capture” report in 2016 led to the establishment of the state capture inquiry in 2018.

The second part of the report was handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa this week.  

Part 1 of the report was handed over at the beginning of the year. The third and final part of the report is due to be presented to Ramaphosa by the end of February.

Part 2 of the report is based on evidence relating to misconduct at the state-owned enterprise (SOE) Transnet and state-owned arms manufacturer Denel. 

Regarding Denel, the commission recommended law enforcement agencies conduct investigations into the 2015 board of directors who supported the suspensions of the company’s three executives Riaz Saloojee, Fikile Mhlontlo and Elizabeth Africa.

In the Transnet case, the report recommended police investigate former CEOs Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama and ex-chief financial officer Anoj Singh for transgressions during their time at the port and freight rail operator.

These include allegations of taking cash bribes from the Gupta family, misleading Transnet’s board and National Treasury and contravening the Public Finance Management Act on many occasions.

Zondo also proposed new legislation that makes “abuse of public power” illegal. 

He suggested offenders be jailed for up to 20 years or fined R200m, or both.