CAPE TOWN, South Africa, August 24, 2017/APO/ -- 

The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises is awaiting an official response from Parliament regarding its request for additional resources needed to carry out a thorough investigation into state capture.

The Acting Chairperson Ms Zukiswa Rantho said the Committee had interacted formally with the Chair of Chairs, Mr Cedric Frolick, and the Secretary to the National Assembly, Mr Masibulele Xaso, on the matter and that Mr Frolick agreed on the process the Committee wanted to undertake and the resources required.

“We met with Mr Frolic yesterday to indicate the kind of resources and the timeframes the Committee is looking at. He promised to write back to the Committee today (Wednesday) with a response, but he was amenable to the request of the Committee,” Ms Rantho said.

She said they also discussed the position of evidence leader being filled by Adv Ntuthuzelo Vanara, given his experience and performance delivering evidence at the Ad Hoc Committee to look at governance challenges at the SABC.

The Committee intends to urgently start with investigations into the state capture allegations as mandated by Parliament in June. The main focus of the Committee is mainly on three state owned entities, namely Eskom, Transnet and Denel.

“Members are agreed that the sooner the investigations start the better. As public representatives we need to safeguard the resources and deal decisively with deviant behaviour when it came to finances of state entities,” Ms Rantho said.

“Mr Frolick agrees also that if parliamentary Committees dealing with state capture investigations deem it necessary to work jointly and collectively they should do so,” she said.

The Committee notes the hasty disposal of the Gupta-owned South African assets over the past few hours, and will seek legal advice on the matter mainly to see whether this will impact on the pending investigation, and what intervention the Committee can make within the prescripts of the law.

Distributed by APO on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.