The Democratic Alliance (DA) agreed with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo's assessment that, if there was another attempt at State capture, Parliament would fail to prevent it.

Addressing a Human Sciences Research Council symposium on Thursday, which analysed the State capture report's impact on democracy – a year to the day that the final instalment of the report was released – Zondo defended his inquiry's wide-ranging recommendations.

The recommendations included the establishment of a commission to monitor State capture if Parliament failed in its legal duties.

"If another group of people were to do exactly what the Guptas did to pursue State capture, Parliament would still not be able to stop it. That is simply because I have seen nothing that has changed. If Parliament won't be able to protect the people's interests, who will protect the people?" Zondo asked.

In his report, Zondo recommended safeguards to protect the country against State capture and Parliament's lack of action.

On Thursday, he repeated this recommendation, adding that electoral reform to allow for a constituency-based system would give voters more power.

If public representatives, elected directly by constituencies, acted against the mandate given, they would be held accountable by those voters, Zondo said.

Currently, political parties decide who they will deploy to Parliament - and the party's mandate takes precedence over voters' demands and needs.

On Thursday evening, Parliament reacted with "shock and strong objection", and accused Zondo of "encroaching" on the doctrine of separation of powers.

However, the DA's chief whip, Siviwe Gwarube, agreed with Zondo.

Gwarube had been trying to get Parliament to move on the reports emanating from the Zondo Commission since March last year, only to be met with resistance from the African National Congress (ANC).

In a statement released on Friday morning, she said the DA noted Zondo's comments that should State capture occur again, Parliament would never be able to prevent it.

"This is true. And the DA has long held that a working and effective Parliament is not in the interests of the ANC. The ANC in Parliament has blocked every attempt to reform its way of conducting business.

"They have treated the Zondo Commission's report and its recommendations with disdain, and keep reminding people that these are mere recommendations and the institution isn't bound by them," Gwarube said.

She said the ANC sought to shield those implicated by the commission from accountability and blankly refused to make any meaningful changes before the term was over.

"This will mean that the seventh Parliament will have nothing to rely on and insulate Parliament from within."

She said the DA's recommendations flowing from the commission's report to the Rules Committee "were bluntly voted down by the ANC, which has the majority".

"The DA and other opposition parties have long called for a portfolio committee to oversee the work of the growing Presidency. This hasn't been implemented, despite the fact that it's been a long argument even before the work of the Zondo Commission.

"Instead of simply implementing this, the ANC wishes to first do a comparative study on the practice. This isn't needed. It's a delaying tactic.

"It is clear the ANC does not want to implement the recommendations of the Zondo Commission. The R1-billion, which was spent on the commission, and the years of work gone into the commission, have unfortunately proven to be a waste.

"Between Parliament's unwillingness to act on the recommendations of the Zondo Commission, and the NPA's admission that they lack capacity to successfully prosecute high-level corruption from State capture, it is clear that corruption and State capture will not be decisively dealt with until the ANC is removed from government in 2024."