Minister Lynne Brown supporting the investigation of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation

A thorough investigation is the only way to lift the cloud shrouding State-owned enterprises stemming from allegations of State capture, says Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown.

In a statement on Tuesday, Minister Brown reiterated that she is on record as supporting the investigation of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) into allegations of corruption reported in the media.

“There are no holy grails. The investigators must do their work. The Department [of Public Enterprises] has been instructed to assist the probe by making documents and officials available to the investigation as required,” said the Minister.

The Ministry of Public Enterprises, Minister Brown said, was incidentally the first member of the executive to call for further investigation into the former Public Protector's State of Capture Report.

The Minister’s comments come as Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on Tuesday received briefings from the South African Council of Churches and the State Capacity Research Project on the findings of their respective investigations into allegations of State capture.

The session was part of the Portfolio Committee’s preparations for the inquiry into the affairs of power utility Eskom.

The committee is one of the Parliamentary committees directed by the House Chairperson of the National Assembly Committees, Cedric Frolick, to probe accusations of State capture linked to alleged emails involving a number of Cabinet Ministers in June 2017.

Following the session, the committee said the information gathered will aid committee members to ask the right questions when the inquiry into Eskom begins in mid-August.

The committee had intended to begin the full inquiry into Eskom at the beginning of August. However, it moved the start date to the third week of August to allow itself time to thoroughly process the evidence and submissions before it.