A year ago, I wrote about the workings of the Zondo Commission on State Capture and mentioned it in later posts, especially when the President gave permission for the Commission to share its data with the NPA and SIU. Of course, the Commission should have closed the enquiry by now, but the problems caused by Covid-19 have delayed matters and it is still continuing, as we see every day in the news. For sure, it is full of intrigue, and all sorts of crazy happenings at the moment as Deputy Chief Justice Zondo tries his level best to bring it to a close. To be honest if it were not so serious, you would think it was a soap opera. We are waiting to see if former President Zuma attends later this month or will he find another excuse. We have Zuma’s son Duduzane, whom we are led to believe is likely to find himself in trouble following evidence given at the Commission, yet incredibly, there are reports that he may stand for the Presidency in four years’ time! At the time of writing this post, evidence is being given by video by Dudu Myeni, the former Chairperson of the stricken South African Airways and close friend of Zuma. Largely, she is refusing to answer questions on the grounds that of self-incrimination and we must assume that this will only go one way and she will find herself investigated by the NPA. Huge trauma occurred when she was asked about comments made by Mr. X (a whistle blower who had been promised non-disclosure of his name for his own safety) and on more than one occasion, despite strict warnings from DCJ Zondo, she referred to Mr X by his real name! We await the outcome of that little problem. My personal guess is that DCJ Zondo will attempt to finish hearing evidence by the end of the year and then he will need a few months to prepare his report. However, he has stated that the NPA should proceed with its own investigations on matters that have already been heard at the Commission. As I mentioned earlier, permission has been given for the Commission to share its data with the NPA and now we have even more positive news on that front, which is one of the main reasons for this post. It was reported in News 24 recently that the NPA will recruit investigators from the Zondo Commission in order to speed up NPA prosecutions. This is such good news and so, so sensible. It results from changes in rules etc., as reported, and obviously a desire to show that the work and expense of the Commission has not been wasted. The skills and capacity of those specialists who have worked on the Commission will be immediately utilised to take matters further. What is good for me with my interest in eDiscovery is that, it is common knowledge in the eDiscovery space, that eDiscovery technology has been used extensively throughout as I spoke of in my earlier post, and this will continue with regard to prosecutions. I am pleased for the people involved. I am pleased for the NPA as it will save them a great deal of time and money. I am pleased for South Africa so that we can all see positive action arising out of these alleged corruption activities. I am especially pleased for eDiscovery in SA as the technology shows its flexibility and power. We must assume that there are literally millions of documents here and that the features of the eDiscovery technology have been crucial so far and clearly will continue to be so. Before I close this brief post let me just mention our book, “A Guide to eDiscovery in South Africa”, which is currently with editors at Lexis Nexis and getting closer to publication. Here is a link through which you can register your interest in the book with Lexis Nexis for when it is out.