State capture hearings to resume in a few weeks

The inquiry into state capture should  resume in the next three to four weeks, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo said on Wednesday.

“There are still things that need to be sorted out. It’s not clear to us if witnesses can travel between provinces to testify at the commission,” commission chair Zondo said during a media briefing. 

It is expected that the commission could resume in the last week of June or at the beginning of July.

Zondo said the commission needed some time to finalise and clarify the list of witnesses and those who would be travelling to Gauteng.

It would also need to look at how its investigators would travel between provinces.

He said the commission would do things differently when hearings resumed.

“Before the lockdown, witnesses were taken through their affidavits [before testifying].

“We are going to do things differently now because we want to finish the work of the commission.

“We are going to make arrangements that the legal team can interview witnesses and transcribe their interviews.

“I will read it [the transcript] before the witness testifies and ask them to confirm if the information is theirs,”  Zondo said.

Witnesses would only be asked questions on important issues, not on everything.

“That will give us more time to have more evidence than we did before,” he said.

Asked if witnesses would be required to testify at the hearing or if they could give evidence on a virtual platform, Zondo said he would prefer  that they physically attended the hearing.

“The fact that we are allowed to have hearings [means] I would prefer they come to the hearing and give evidence.”

Zondo said the commission would prioritise evidence relating to the public protector (PP) reports when hearings resumed.

“These are issues that revolve around the Gupta family and their entities.

“We will try to finish issues that do not fall under the PP.”