WORLDVIEW: Here’s the problem with the Zondo Commission, so far

The Zondo Commission is of vital importance to the democratic future of South Africa. Its investigation into state capture will, hopefully, be decisive in discovering the truth about corruption in the Zuma years and identifying key perpetrators for – again hopefully – suitable punishment.

To me, however, the Zondo Commission has, so far, had a fundamental flaw: its heavy reliance on testimony. Most of the Commission's work so far has, essentially, consisted of hours and hours of live testimony, much of it conflicting and some of it confusing.

Don't get me wrong – testimony from witnesses, whistle-blowers, and corrupt officials is an essential part of getting to the truth of the matter. The problem is that testimony alone is not good enough. As we've seen, there is no shortage of outright conflicting statements – person A accusing person B of corruption and person B reciprocally accusing person A of the same. It's the ultimate he said/he said, and all that observers can do – in the absence of other evidence – is decide who they believe.

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