Judicial watchdog Judges Matter has expressed concerns about what it calls a trend in which commissions of inquiry function like trials.
It says this prolongs the investigative process.
The remarks follow President Cyril Ramaphosa’s establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegation that criminal syndicates have infiltrated criminal justice institutions.
The judicial watchdog’s Mbekezeli Benjamin says, “A commission of inquiry should not be a trial, it should be an inquiry into the facts and those facts should be handed over to the relevant authorities to take concrete action.”
He adds, “Unfortunately, what we have seen in recent times is commissions of inquiry have turned into trials in of themselves and that’s what drags them much longer than they should be.”
VIDEO | Judges Matter on judicial commission of inquiries:
