Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the extension of the Zondo Commission’s term by another three months to allow it to conclude its report.
On Wednesday North Gauteng High Court Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela granted the commission of inquiry an extension until December 31 to finalise its report after concluding its hearings in August.
The report was due to be finalised by Thursday, but Justice Zondo approached the court to extend the finalisation process.
Maumela found that to decline to grant the extension sought by the commission would be unreasonable and would not make sense.
Earlier this week Justice Minister Ronald Lamola raised concerns about the extension adding additional costs to his department. In a court application to intervene, the department capped the extension at R15 million.
However on Tuesday Lamola backtracked on his court application.
Ramaphosa said Justice Zondo’s decision to approach the courts was neither intentional nor negligent.
He acknowledged that the workload of the commission is heavy.
“It’s not intentional or out of negligence. It is much more about both the objective and subjective conditions that they have to work under.
“I think the court decided well to grant them the time and I look forward to the receipt of the report. We will see what the judge has come up with and then implementation will [begin],” Ramaphosa said.
Political Bureau