IN QUOTES | 'A lot of work was done during the lockdown' - Raymond Zondo on commission

Deputy Chief justice Raymond Zondo briefed the media on Wednesday about the work on the commission during the lockdown. He also detailed ways in which the commission would proceed with hearings to ensure that it concludes its work on time. 

Here's what he said in six quotes:

Working under lockdown

“Although during level 5 and 4, the commission did not have public hearings that doesn’t mean that work was not continuing. There is a lot of work that everyone was able to do remotely. The members of the legal team, investigation team and myself. When I left Gauteng before the lockdown, I brought a lot of work so I could continue working. There is a lot of work that we were able to do remotely.”

Covid-19 ready

“There is an original plan for Covid-19 that is in place. There are final details that are being worked on for workers coming back, and I’m told that it should be finalised next week. On the 15th of June, the personnel of the commission will return, but even then, the attitude of the commission is that those who can work from home should continue to.”

Resuming public hearings 

“I thought we would be able to resume public hearings on the 17th of June but once I saw the level 3 regulations, I formed a view that there were challenges and that is in part why I spoke to the president on Friday. There will be co-operation from the executives and there is no reason we should not be able to resume hearings either in the last week of June or first week of July.”

Investigations

“Our focus is on finishing the work we did in 2018 and 2019, to do what we call phase two of various SOEs and to focus on the public protector issues. Already there is a lot of investigation under way in regards to that, they are continuing with that and the evidence relating to that will happen as soon as we are finished with the SOEs.”

Doing things differently

“We are going to do things differently now because we want to finish the work of the commission. We want to make arrangements that the legal team can interview witnesses and transcribe their interviews. I will read [the transcripts] before the witness testifies and we'll ask them to confirm under oath if the information is theirs.”

Zooming in on important issues 

“Now that we are in the last eight months of the commission, we will be more focused in that when witnesses come into the hearing, there will be more focus on the important issues and not on everything.”