Ramaphosa to receive State Capture Inquiry final report on 1 Jan, says Gungubele

9th December 2021 By: News24Wire

Ramaphosa to receive State Capture Inquiry final report on 1 Jan, says Gungubele

President Cyril Ramaphosa

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says the Cabinet believes enough is being done in government's fight against corruption.

Gungubele was speaking at a media briefing on Thursday on the outcomes of a Cabinet meeting held the day before.

He said 120 corruption cases were before the High Court and the Special Tribunal, and that, as of March 2021, R42-billion in pension benefits and bank accounts had been frozen.

The pension funds and bank accounts belong to individuals being investigated by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) for alleged corruption.

Gungubele's media briefing coincided with International Anti-Corruption Day, commemorated annually on 9 December, in recognition of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which was signed in Mexico in 2003.

The day provides an opportunity for political leaders, governments, legal bodies and lobby groups to join forces against corruption. On this day, anti-corruption advocates also engage the general public on effectively fighting corruption and fraud in communities.

Gungubele said "corruption, whether large or small, remained one of the greatest challenges facing the country and held back economic growth and social development".

"Cabinet remains encouraged that the justice system continues to take decisive steps to bring those who were found to have been involved in acts of corruption to account," he added.

Gungubele said one such proactive endeavour by the justice sector was the State Capture Inquiry.

"The commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture is scheduled to submit its final report to President Cyril Ramaphosa on 1 January 2022. Watch this space. Cabinet anticipates that in addition to exposing the perpetrators of corruption, this report will also provide us with proposals on how to strengthen our systems to prevent corruption," the minister said.

He praised the SIU for instituting a number of cases in the High Court and the Special Tribunal.

"The following are pending as of 31 March 2021: 56 cases in the highest court, which involved contracts to the amount of 62-billion. There are also 64 case at the Special Tribunal, which involves contracts to the tune of R6.99-billion. The amounts, or values, are the contractual amounts which were irregularly and unlawfully awarded by state institutions and form the basis of the litigation by the SIU," said Gungubele.

"In the financial year 2020-'21, the SIU has already frozen pension benefits of former civil servants, bank accounts and accounts of individuals and businesses amounting to R42-billion."

He said between April 2020 and March 2021 President Cyril Ramaphosa had signed nine SIU proclamations empowering the investigating unit to probe cases of corruption as part of the government's fight against corruption.