Tito Mboweni: No more cash for the State Capture Commission

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is closing the money tap for the State Capture Commission. Mboweni has announced that he will not be authorising any more money for the commission, which has already received the green light for a three month extension.

The finance minister made the comments during a virtual question and answer session which followed his Budget Speech on Wednesday, 24 February 2021.

National Treasury allocated an additional R63 million to the commission in 2020. Mboweni said they made it clear then that was the amount the commission would have to solely rely on to finally conclude its work.

“This perpetual extension of the inquiry into state capture is not really conducive. They must finish their work, in fact their work in my view is much less than the work that was done by the commission of inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation,” Mboweni said.

“The PIC commission of inquiry has concluded and this one just keeps going on and on, so it must end at some stage unless their DG has anything to say, I don’t think I’m going to sign up on another tranche of cash to the state capture commission. They must finish their work.”

State Capture Commission: R700 million and counting

Tito Mboweni has said while National Treasury might not be able to fork out money for the commission, the Department of Justice and constitutional development might have to reprioritise some of its budget to accommodate the extension.

“There has to be reprioritisation within the Department of Justice. There are many things that need to be considered there: the cost of the commission itself, the cost of the lawyers, the daily remuneration costs…,” Mboweni’s Director-General Dondo Mogajane said.

Well over R700 million of taxpayers’ money has been spent on the commission, which was scheduled to wrap up proceedings on March 2021, however the extension means the date will be pushed to the end of June.

Lawyers at the commission cost a pretty penny, earning as much as R38 000 a day for their services. The commission, established in 2018, has been looking into the extent of fraud and corruption within the public sector. There have been several hindrances to commission’s work, in the form of former president Jacob Zuma’s refusal to appear – a massive delay given the fact that he is considered a central figure in the allegations.