Processing of State Capture Commission report by Parliament
16 May 2022
Parliament is in the process of establishing appropriate systems, consistent with its constitutional function, to process and oversee the implementation of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report.
Thus far, the President has officially submitted to Parliament Part 3 of the Commission's Report, which relates to the conduct of current and former Members of Parliament.
Part 3 of the Report identifies several past and present Members of Parliament who are implicated in conduct that may constitute illegal, unlawful, or unethical behavior. As the aspects of the Report have a direct bearing on parliamentary business, the institution has swiftly initiated a processes to implement its recommendations.
Accordingly, the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members’ Interest for Assembly and Parliament Council Members. This applies only to current members who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place.
The President has committed to submit the rest of the reports along with the implementation plan on or before 31 August 2022.
While the official submission of all outstanding reports is awaited, Parliament has already started working on systems based on publicly available copies of the reports. Parliament's research department is currently processing the reports, summarizing them into, amongst others, action plans to improve Parliament’s execution of its constitutional mandate consistent with the corrective measures contained in the reports.
Parliament's Legal Services department has conducted an analysis of the reports and has generated a legal opinion proposing a process Parliament should follow in dealing with the reports once officially submitted.
Parliament has an obligation to implement corrective measures from the Commission's reports with regards to areas where Parliament has a role to play.
Similarly, Parliament has a responsibility to oversee the Executive's and state agencies' actions in their process of carrying out the implementation of commission reports.
The Rules Committee will, at an opportune time, consider how best to process the reports and implementation plan in their entirety.
Issued by Moloto Mothapo on behalf of Parliament, 16 May 2022
