Inquiry shouldn’t tamper with affidavits

REVELATIONS at the Zondo Commission that its investigators tampered with the affidavit of former public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba’s estranged wife, Nomachule Mngoma, is a serious cause for concern.

It risks affecting the credibility of the final report and recommendations if not attended to.

During her testimony on Monday night, Mngoma complained that the commission’s investigators snuck some paragraphs into her affidavit, based on their own investigations and not her version of events.

She complained to Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that she was made to sign her affidavit under duress, without being allowed to thoroughly read its contents, because evidence leader advocate Paul Pretorius wanted it as soon as possible.

Attempts by Mngoma’s lawyer to object to her testimony about the disputed paragraphs were eventually dismissed by Justice Zondo.

He ruled that she could file a supplementary affidavit later but had to field questions about the statements in question.

However, Justice Zondo admitted that Mngoma’s concerns were valid.

It’s all well and good for Justice Zondo to admit to the legitimacy and validity of Mngoma’s concerns, but such tampering with the affidavit of a witness should not have been allowed to begin with.

Regardless of the accuracy and dependability of the evidence uncovered by the commission’s investigation team, they should not sneak their version of events into the affidavits of unsuspecting witnesses.

Let alone if there is no prior buy-in from such witnesses, as proved to be the case with Mngoma, unless they have a preconceived idea of what the outcome of her testimony should look like.

Admittedly, members of the Zondo Commission investigations team are within their rights to probe any lead or tip-off about corruption and wrongdoing involving anybody.

What they don’t have, and should never pretend to have, is the right to put words into the mouths of unsuspecting witnesses.

The least they can do, as and when they uncover valuable pieces of information, is to depose their own affidavits as investigators, take the stand and subject themselves to crossexamination.