SACP warns of diluted state capture probe

The SACP has expressed concern that a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture could be "diluted" and not completed if its scope is too wide.

This follows the ANC national executive committee decision that a broader judicial commission of inquiry into state capture be set up by President Jacob Zuma and that it should span the period during which the party had been in power, from 1994 to date.

This was despite former public protector Thuli Madonsela's recommendation for a judicial commission of inquiry focusing on the Guptas and not the broader commission the ANC is now seeking.

• SACP calls for independent judicial commission of inquiry into state capture

SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said the party was calling for an independent judicial commission of inquiry.

"In the light of the barrage of further revelations concerning the Gupta network, the commission needs clearly to extend its scope beyond the major, but still limited, issues investigated in the public protector's State of Capture report," he said after the SACP's central committee meeting.

"But we must vigorously guard against recent attempts to dilute it into investigating such a wide field that its work will never be completed."

Madonsela recommended that a judicial commission of inquiry be headed by a retired judge appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

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Zuma contested this, saying only he could appoint the head of the inquiry as it was his constitutional prerogative - despite the fact that he was implicated.

Nzimande said it was possible that a declaratory order from the Constitutional Court was needed on whether Zuma should be allowed to establish the commission despite him being implicated.

"It's an awkward thing because maybe even us as participants as drafters of the constitution in the Constitutional Assembly, we never really anticipated a situation of this nature."

He said every day there was a barrage of leaked e-mails and more whistleblowers coming forward, which showed the scale of corporate capture and of the "parasitic plundering of resources" by the Gupta family and their network.

Even more concerning was the central role of Zuma and his son Duduzane in "auctioning off our national sovereignty".

Zuma dismissed allegations in parliament last week that the state had been captured by the Gupta family.

Nzimande said the leaked e-mails between members of the Gupta family and associates which detailed the extent to which the Gupta family had captured politicians and state entities, looked genuine.