Ad hoc committee members reject ‘watered-down’ draft report

By Johnathan Paoli

Members of Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating allegations of corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system have criticised what they described as a “watered-down” draft report, saying it failed to reflect the committee’s deliberations and recommendations.

Meeting virtually on Thursday, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party MPs led criticism of the third draft of the committee’s report, arguing that members’ oral and written submissions had either been omitted or substantially altered.

EFF MP Leigh-Anne Mathys said committee members had repeatedly submitted inputs, but these were still not properly reflected.

“We are here again with this third draft where the content team has not adequately captured the inputs. I’m speaking particularly on behalf of the EFF,” she said.

While acknowledging that the content team was responsible for drafting the report in parliamentary language, Mathys said it was not its role to change the