Hawks Head Godfrey Lebeya No Longer Testifying At State Capture Inquiry

Hawks head general Godfrey Lebeya will no longer be testifying before the state capture inquiry on Thursday.

His testimony has been postponed on Thursday after commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo questioned whether the evidence he would give fell squarely within the terms of reference of the inquiry.

Zondo has come down hard on the commission’s legal team for failing to do its homework properly, especially as the inquiry is working against the clock.

He adjourned proceedings a short while ago.

The commission will now only sit again on Monday, effectively losing two days of work.

Lebeya was to have told the inquiry about him being sidelined by former national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, allegedly due to him being accused of being part of a conspiracy against former Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli.

But Zondo took issue with his legal team’s failure to consult Phiyega and to carry out further investigations. He questioned whether Lebeya’s statement fell fully within the inquiry’s terms of reference, as Lebeya also suggests that his sidelining may have been due to personal differences.

“The legal team is wrong not to have done that, the investigators are wrong not to have done that, but more than the investigators I blame the legal team because the legal team must guide the investigators.”

Evidence leader Susan Wentzel apologised. Zondo has also apologised to the general public for the inquiry losing two working days, saying he hoped steps would be taken to ensure this did not happen again.

EWN