Maximum value from inquiries

Public inquiries, including commissions, can be a transparent and independent tool for investigating some of the tragic, complex, politically contested and controversial issues in society. In that sense, they are a major instrument for holding public officials to account for their sins of commission and/or omission.

But they are expensive to run. Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture had cost R356 million by September. Parliament was this week informed that the figure has almost doubled to R700 million. A cost as high as this requires that society derive value for money from public inquiries, which can be done by