Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo reportedly has until 1 January 2022 to submit his State Capture Inquiry report findings and recommendations to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

According to Business Day, Ramaphosa signed off on the official deadline for Zondo to submit his findings and recommendations in October, as stipulated in the Government Gazette published on 9 November 2021.

In September, Zondo sought another extension of three months for the commission to complete its final report, which will be handed to Ramaphosa.

Zondo, who chaired the commission in his capacity as Deputy Chief Justice, justified the extension by pointing to delays in the preparation of first, second and third drafts of the analysis of evidence given by 330 witnesses over the three-year period, News24 reported.

"When I made the assessment that my team and I should be able to complete the report by the end of September, I did so on the basis of the time I believed it would take to complete the first drafts and the time it would take for us to complete the second drafts and the third drafts," Zondo said in court papers seeking the extension.

Zondo also stated that another cause of the delays was that one of the people on his team, who was supposed to prepare summaries and analyses of evidence on two topics, was ill and had not been to work for a month.

He sought an extension until 31 December for his team to conclude its work.

In his founding affidavit asking for the extension, Zondo also stated that he thought he and his team would have completed the first draft on various topics by the end of June, the second draft by the third week of August and the third and final drafts between 10 and 15 September.

The commission started its hearings in August 2018.

It was initially intended to take only six months but saw multiple extensions thereafter as scores of witnesses took the stand.

According to Business Day, Zondo also wants the bulk of the work to be finalised by 20 December so the deadline of 1 January can be met.

In September, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola challenged Zondo's extension application but later aborted his case.

Lamola argued that Zondo's application for another extension was unconstitutional.

He asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to cap the commission's future costs at R15 million, News24 reported.