Makapanstad - The judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture is a money drain which should be halted and the resources spent elsewhere, political party Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) says.
The commission chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo was appointed to investigate allegations of state capture, corruption and fraud in the public sector including organs of state and has heard testimony implicating senior government officials, former executives at state-owned enterprises and executives in some private companies in graft.de
Critics are skeptical that it will lead to any prosecutions or convictions.
"The state capture commission has already spend R400 million, how many houses can be build using that R400 million," F4SD leader Mbahare Kekana said, calling the commission "a joke".
"We saying we had enough, discontinue this commission and take the money to the community for services. We know there will be no actions from it."
"We had many commissions for example the Marikana commission; nothing happened, people were killed in front of our eyes (but) nothing happened," Kekana told party supporters in Makapanstad near Hammanskraal, referring to the death of several people, including 34 miners shot dead by police, during protests in Marikana in August 2012.
"Andries Tatane was fighting for water, he was killed, nothing happened," he added, referring to a 33-year-old man shot and killed by police during a service delivery protest in Ficksburg in 2011.
Kekana said millions of rand were being wasted while the people of Makapanstad had no adequate drinking water.
"During the era of the Bophuthatswana government (during apartheid rule) there was water in Makapanstad. It is only after we ushered in a democratic government that there is no water. Factories in Babelegi have closed down and people are unemployed," he said.
Kekana was in the area to report back to the community following promises he ahead of a May 8 general election, when he pledged to donate shoes to school children and buy uniforms for a local dance group.
He donated shoes to 25 learners at Mmakuba Primary School and handed over uniforms to the Ipopeng dance group made up of elderly women.
Kekana said his party wanted to take control of Moretele municipality in North West, so it could demonstrate its governing capabilities.
Forum 4 Service Delivery was founded in 2016 to tackle grassroot issues such as children going to school without shoes. It contested municipal elections in 2016, winning seats in municipalities in North West province and Metsimahole in the Free State.
The party was the official opposition in the Mamusa municipality in North West, before the council was dissolved.
Kekana said although the party had not won a seat in the national assembly in May, he was happy that it finished 23rd out of 48 parties that contested the general election.