- Cyril Ramaphosa says the government will not be commenting until all three parts of the State Capture Inquiry report have been received.
- He expects the last of the three reports at the end of February.
- He has, however, urged other law enforcement agencies to proceed with prosecutions, should they wish to do so.
The government will not make any pronouncements on the findings or recommendations of the State Capture Inquiry before all three parts of the report have been received.
This was revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, during the handover ceremony, in which Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo submitted the first of three parts of the report.
On receiving the first part, Ramaphosa said: "As I indicated to the court, only once the final instalment has been received will it be possible to have complete sight of the report's implications and to develop an implementation plan on the recommendations.
"We will, however, commence with the consideration of the parts of the report as they are submitted to the Presidency and will be putting in place appropriate mechanisms to effectively and thoroughly process the findings and recommendations."
AS IT HAPPENED | Ramaphosa receives part 1 of the state capture report
He said consideration of the report would include engagement with all relevant departments, agencies, public entities and other stakeholders as considered necessary.
The last of the three reports is expected at the end of February.
"This process, which we expect will culminate in the submission of the report and implementation plan to Parliament by the end of June 2022, does not prevent other institutions from acting within their statutory mandate on any of the findings and recommendations of the report," said Ramaphosa.
"While the terms of reference of the commission require the submission of the commission's report and recommendation to the president, the reality is that the report of the commission really belongs to the people of South Africa. It does not belong to the president."
As such, Ramaphosa promised the report would be made available on the Presidency's website hours after Zondo had handed it over.
He said:
Ramaphosa thanked Zondo and his team for their work.
"For close on four years, Justice Zondo has pursued this profound responsibility with dedication, with determination, also with a great deal of patience. We wish him well as he enters the final stretch of the commission's work.
"I also wish to extend a word of gratitude to the secretary of the commission, Prof [Itumeleng] Mosala, the heads of the investigation and legal teams, the evidence leaders, the researchers, and the other commission staff for the valuable contribution they have made to the national effort to confront state capture."