President Jacob Zuma has announced that he will set up a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture.<\/p>\n
The president made the announcement in during a Q&A session in Parliament on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He said that the presidency was moving “as fast as possible” on the matter, and that more details would be announced soon.<\/p>\n
Calls for the commission to be established have become increasingly louder over the past month, as thousands of damning emails were leaked to the media, detailing the web of patronage and business dealings maintained by the Gupta family, who are friends of the president.<\/p>\n
Implicated in the emails are senior government officials including finance minister Malusi Gigaba, mining minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, and Faith Muthambi.<\/p>\n
Zuma’s son, Duduzane, has also been implicated in the email leaks, as well as the president himself, through apparent ties to the UAE.<\/p>\n
In light of the leaks, political parties, including the ANC, have insisted that a judicial commission be established.<\/p>\n
Such a commission was also recommended by former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, in her State of Capture report released in October 2016.<\/p>\n
However, in the Public Protector’s terms, the commission should not be set up by Zuma, who was implicated in state capture, as this would lead to a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Public Protector said the commission’s terms and judge should be appointed by chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.<\/p>\n
Zuma has take the State of Capture report on review, saying the Public Protector is not Constitutionally mandated to overstep the president’s powers in this regard.<\/p>\n
Zuma has maintained he is not opposed to a judicial commission of inquiry, however he wants to establish it on his terms, as is his constitutional right as president.<\/p>\n