Either the African National Congress (ANC) and its government simply did not care that state entities were in decline during state capture or they slept on the job – or they simply didn't know what to do. 

This was the assertion which Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo made in the first part of his report.

Zondo noted in the report that evidence that SARS was intentionally captured was no different to what happened at SAA, Eskom and Denel, "each of which were subsequently run down considerably with rampant corruption and state capture".

The report stated, "All of which happened under the watch of the government of the ruling party, the African National Congress. Most, if not all, of these entities were led by chef executive officers and boards of directors who would have been approved by the ruling party through its national deployment committee."

It noted that the decline in government entities happened gradually over a number of years but that nothing was done by the ANC-led government to arrest the situation. 

"These entities did not drop overnight from the internationally highly regarded entities that they once were to what they subsequently became. The decline happened over a number of years but both the government and the ruling party failed dismally to make any effective interventions to halt the decline. Either they did not care or they slept on the job or they had no clue what to do."

The ANC, which was mentioned just under 30 times in the report, said it would deal with the findings. President Cyril Ramaphosa has since urged party members not to join efforts to reject the report. 

The report cited evidence of how the ANC Deployment Committee would influence key positions at parastatals. 

"The practice of consultation with the ruling party was further tainted by a lack of transparency and the presence of conflicts of interest," the report read. 

It cited that former minister Barbara Hogan said that factional battles within the ANC encouraged and entrenched nepotism and patronage, which compromised the integrity of the deployment process and damaged state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The commission also found that the ANC benefitted from the proceeds of corruption. 

The report cited two examples – in the City of Joburg and in the Free State – where state funds meant for public procurement ended up in ANC coffers.

"Not only was there communication with bidders, the evidence of money flows related to the City of Johannesburg shows that millions of rands worth of donations which were made, before and after certain contracts were awarded. Emails show that a month before a certain contract was awarded, Mr Makhubo (then Mayor of Johannesburg) asked EOH for a donation to the ANC. A week after the contract was awarded, Mr Makhubo asked for another donation. Of particular note was R50-million donated to the ANC for the 2016 local government elections," the report stated.

In the Free State, the ANC benefitted from a number of lucrative contracts given to Edwin Sodi, most notably the 2014 asbestos audit tender valued at R255-million from the Free State government. 

"Bank accounts show millions of rands in payments to the ANC by Blackhead alone between 2013 [and] 2018."

The report said it did not fully investigate the extent of corruption associated with political party financing or the extent to which other political parties might also have been implicated.

But, it said, what related to the ANC was enough to sound the alarm. 

"In fact, there is another example. That is Bosasa. The evidence heard by the commission revealed that Bosasa was deeply involved in corruption for many years which involved tenders from government departments or government entities such as the Department of Correctional Services (prisons) and the Department of Home Affairs and the Airports Company. The evidence also revealed that Bosasa made donations to the ANC in cash and in kind. It cannot be that it only gave the ANC 'clean' money or that it did not spend 'dirty' money on the ANC."