Where on earth does one begin to talk about the State Capture Commission or Zondo Commission as it is referred to, with Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as its Chairman? We, in SA are seeing on a daily basis the news as it happens at the Commission but this is just the tip of the iceberg in my opinion. There is so much about the Commission and its workings we do not know, quite rightly I say, because its unfettered completion and outcome could well write another chapter in SA’s history. I am not, in this post, going to even attempt to summarise what astonishing evidence we have heard on a myriad of subjects, rather give my views on where it may go, what may happen and express my delight at the use of eDiscovery technology within the Commission. I am at pains to make clear that my comments and opinions are solely mine and based upon what we see from the media and a lot of guesswork. This is largely because much of the workings of the Commission are shrouded in mystery as I have said. Many of us know, or know of, people who are working for the Commission on a project basis but they have all signed strict confidentiality agreements and my understanding is that even the location of the data and analytics centre is secret. As I mentioned I completely understand this and frankly, in terms of the bigger picture, I would not want it any other way. For all of these reasons we do not know facts like how much data there is and whether it is structured or unstructured or both. What is clear, given the large number of investigations and witnesses that have been reported and are evident in the daily feed, the volume of data is enormous. My guess is that it is terabytes and terabytes or even into petabytes. Many people thought the Commission was just going to be about the Guptas and Zuma. How wrong! We have seen so many institutions such as Transnet, PRASA, Eskom, SARS, SAA, BNP Capital, Bosasa and many more under scrutiny. Then we have seen individuals, Zuma, his son Duduzane, Nene, Mentor, and so many more including whistleblowers, journalists, law enforcement heads, etc. Speaking of Bosasa the media reported doubts as to whether CEO Gavin Watson really died in an accident in August 2019 or was it suicide to avoid exposure? The whole thing is like a 25 year long movie of a State and its various participants in alleged corruption, conspiracies, lies and generally dirty dealings. Clearly there is more to come as it seems that Zuma will return and his son will also be giving evidence. So how long will it last, how much has it cost so far, and what exactly can the Commission do? So, remembering that these are my personal views and not based upon any information or facts, I guess it will last as long as it takes whilst ever there is more evidence coming to light. That said, any Commission of Enquiry needs an end date to avoid loss of impetus. We do not know but my feeling is somewhere between 3 and 6 months will be as long as they wish the Commission to continue. It was reported last month that the Commission had cost the State R356m thus far. A huge amount of money but frankly a drop in the ocean compared to the billions of Rand allegedly spent or wasted on the matters being investigated. Investigation is a keyword here as the role of the Commission is to investigate, not to prosecute nor institute proceedings against any individuals, corporations or institutions. Once the Commission has heard all the evidence it requires, the Chairman must publish his findings (and by the way I think that Chairman Raymond Zondo has been hugely impressive) and then as I see it, the proceedings, subject to the findings, should follow. It would be unthinkable, in my view, if the Commission found that certain dealings were corrupt and/or reprehensible, and that the matters would end there. That would represent a complete of waste of money and time but much greater than that it would have a detrimental effect on SA politically and economically. The world needs to be shown that the days of high powered political corruption in this country are at an end or we will never escape third world status and all the sacrifices of Nelson Mandela and his colleagues and supporters will have been worthless. So, someone, perhaps NPA or even DOJ must take over the work that has been done and continue the investigations and proceedings after the Commission ends. So what does all of this have to do with eDiscovery you may ask? Those of us who are involved in the global eDiscovery industry know that it is something of an “incestuous village” in a nice way! We tend to hear or know who is doing what and with what technology. It is an open secret that the Commission has the use of two the worlds leading brands of eDiscovery technology - Nuix and Relativity. It is of course, no surprise that eDiscovery technology is being used. How else can this much data be processed analysed and investigated? How else can evidence be prepared in order to question and perhaps ultimately prosecute or sue witnesses and organisations? As I said we do not know the amount of data involved or number of documents but one day perhaps we will and we will then see how eDiscovery technology was crucial to this Enquiry. Many years ago I was heavily involved in what became known as the Siemens corruption case. At the time this was the largest internal and regulatory financial investigation in the world. Like the Zondo Commission there were huge volumes of data and eDiscovery technology broke new ground in finding otherwise hidden data and helping to bring the whole global matter to a fruition. I sense a similar feeling about eDiscovery technology and the Zondo Commission. Used correctly the technology could well find (and maybe already has) astonishing facts and evidence. We may even see the first use in SA of Technology Assisted Review - now that would be something! It seems to me that this Commission, and whatever happens subsequently, can and will write history in SA as far as the use of eDiscovery technology is concerned, and as I said at the outset of this post, may well write a new chapter in SA’s political and economic history.