Africa-Press – South-Africa. Preparations for the public hearings of the commission of inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system, set to start next week, are advancing steadily.
Commission spokesperson Jeremy Michaels said on Monday the commission’s senior team was seized with preparations for the commencement of the commission’s hearings next Wednesday. He said the consultation with KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, whom the commission intends to call as its first witness, has been ongoing.
“The commission has simultaneously been in consultation with a number of other witnesses whose details, based on security considerations, we are not at liberty to divulge,” Michaels said.
He said the preparations for calling a witness were intricate, and there was a lot of legal and investigative work which went into the preparations.
“This work was delayed by procurement challenges, which arose with regard to the ICT systems and, in particular, issues with data security having regard to the nature of investigations which the commission must conduct and the technical sophistication of the parties it must investigate.”
He said with the procurement, training and testing completed, the preparations were on track.
“Until we were sure that these systems were fully functional and that our electronic records could be securely stored, we could not have proceeded responsibly with those preparations.”
Michaels said the commission was aware that the parliamentary ad hoc committee would also want Mkhwanazi to testify before it as soon as possible, and the commission was communicating with the committee to ensure that this happened co-operatively.
The proclamations establishing the commission and the regulations governing its operation were published in the Government Gazette on August 22.
“Working together with the department of justice and constitutional development, which has the legal mandate to assist commissions of inquiry in setting up, we have taken delivery of most of the necessary physical and ICT infrastructure.”
Michaels said the commission had taken delivery of equipment configured with the necessary software, including data security software.
“Most of our staff have now been trained on the systems and they have conducted tests to ensure that the hardware and software are fit for purpose, which indeed they are.”
He said the ICT systems which had been procured included a cybersecurity solution, a secure internet connection and a live streaming service, as well as transcription and stenography services.
“In addition, we have onboarded a confidential reporting hotline for receiving reports from the public. The hotline consists of a number of platforms, including a telephone line where members of the public can confidentially talk to an operator and offer the commission information related to the terms of reference.”
The hot line’s contact details are [email protected] and its contact number is 0800 111 369.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
