South Africa's president denies delaying corruption report

Presidente da África do Sul nega ter atrasado relatório sobre corrupção

The South African presidency denies any interference by Cyril Ramaphosa in the work of the commission investigating state capture during Jacob Zuma's consulate, Cyril Ramaphosa's office said in a statement.

The position of the Presidency comes in response to allegations, from some political parties in the opposition, that Ramaphosa was behind the two postponements of the delivery of the fifth and final volume of the Zondo commission report.

The statement distributed by Pretoria aims, "to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding about the issue."

The Presidency clarifies that as of twenty-three o'clock on the 20th, (Monday) it had not received any form of copy of the fifth volume of the report.

This part of the report should have been delivered to the President on the 15th, but according to the communiqué, this was not possible at the request of the commission of inquiry.

The South African Presidency also says that Cyril Ramaphosa did not receive the electronic copy of the report on Sunday night as originally planned.

The note we have been quoting confirms that on Monday morning, President Ramaphosa and Judge Zondo spoke via telephone. In the conversation, Zondo reportedly promised to complete the report, but not in time to deliver it that same Monday.

The Presidency says that the report can only be delivered after its completion. It is from here that the ceremony to hand over the report of the commission investigating the capture of the South African state was tentatively scheduled for this Wednesday.

Judge Zondo himself also issued a statement this Tuesday in which he clarified that President Ramaphosa never interfered in the work of the commission.

Several opposition parties, most notably the Democratic Alliance, have linked the postponements to alleged interference by President Ramaphosa, who is under investigation for allegedly concealing a theft, at his Phala Phala farm.

The fifth and final part of the extensive report addresses how state capture took its toll on the South African Secret Service, the SABC radio and television station, and how the Gupta family misused the military Airport, located in Pretoria.

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