President Cyril Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa tabled the fourth part of the State Capture Inquiry's report with Parliament on Tuesday - and, in a turnaround from the African National Congress's (ANC's) previous stance, affected committees will deal with the published parts of the report.
"Parliament confirms receipt of Part 4 of the Report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture from the President of the Republic today. Previously, the President submitted Part 3 of the Commission's Report, which Parliament is in the process of implementing," reads a statement from Parliament's spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
"Part 4 of the Report comes at the time Parliament is finalising the process of establishing appropriate systems and mechanisms, consistent with its constitutional function, to oversee the implementation of the report. The report will be published in the Announcements Tablings and Committees (ATC) of Parliament for the attention of Members.
"The Rules Committee, on the other hand, will at the appropriate time determine how best to process the report and the accompanying implementation plan once they are submitted on or before August by the President."
Mothapo said, "In the interim, committees of Parliament will engage with the publicly available reports in their ordinary course of business."
News24 reported on Monday that influential ANC MP, chair of chairs Cedric Frolick, and ANC MP in National Council of Provinces, Winnie Ngwenya, have been referred to Parliament's Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests for their part in the Bosasa-scandal.
This was after a legal opinion from Parliament's legal services sat on Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula's desk for almost two months.
Democratic Alliance deputy chief whip Siviwe Gwarube's attempts to get Parliament to deal with the published reports, as it pertains to Parliament, were stonewalled by senior ANC MPs on the National Assembly Programming Committee.
The ANC alleged Parliament could only deal with the full report after Ramaphosa tabled it, with an implementation plan four months after its completion. This meant that Parliament would only look at it in mid-October.
The legal opinion did not advise this, and neither did Ramaphosa when he tabled part three of the report in March.
In another statement, Mothapo confirmed that Parliament is in "the process of establishing appropriate systems, consistent with its constitutional function, to process and oversee the implementation of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture Report".
He also confirmed the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests "has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosure of Members' Interest for Assembly and Parliament Council Members".
"This applies only to current members who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place."
He didn't name Frolick and Ngwenya.
Frolick has recently been elected as co-chair of the ad hoc committee that will exercise oversight over the state of disaster after the floods in KwaZulu-Natal, despite the Zondo cloud over his head.
Mothapo said that, while the official submission of the reports is awaited, Parliament has already started working on systems based on publicly available copies of the reports.
"Parliament's research department is currently processing the reports, summarising them into, among others, action plans to improve Parliament's execution of its constitutional mandate consistent with the corrective measures contained in the reports.
"Parliament's Legal Services department has conducted an analysis of the reports and has generated a legal opinion, proposing a process Parliament should follow in dealing with the reports once officially submitted."
He said Parliament had an obligation to implement corrective measures from the commission's reports, with regard to areas where Parliament had a role to play.
"Similarly, Parliament has a responsibility to oversee the Executive's and state agencies' actions in their process of carrying out the implementation of commission reports."
Gwarube welcomed this turnaround.
"This is a massive departure from the Speaker's argument that Parliament should wait until the President tables his Implementation Plan. Her and the ANC's vehement objection to Parliament getting to work is well-documented," she said in a statement.
"The reality is that Mapisa-Nqakula has been stalling this process in the National Assembly Programming Committee (NAPC) while sitting on a legal opinion drafted by Parliament's own Legal Services for several weeks."
She welcomed the confirmation that the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the Code of Ethical Conduct.
"This is an important step for transparency and accountability," she said.
"The Ethics Committee should move swiftly. Much of the information and documentation they would need is publicly available.
"We must not relent until those who have looted our country for years are brought to book. Parliament can no longer afford to simply be a by-stander in issues affecting South Africans. Corruption is not a victimless crime, it robs the people of this country."