The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK) has launched a scathing attack on the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, calling it a: “wasteful drain on the public purse”.

The party issued a statement following the commission’s latest postponement last week, arguing that the inquiry has become: “a monumental waste of money.” It claimed the process costs taxpayers more than R1 million every day in legal fees, administration, security and logistics, yet repeatedly delivers only adjournments.

According to MK, commissions of inquiry are used by the executive to: “deflect scrutiny” and avoid real consequences. “Unlike parliamentary ad hoc committees, which are constitutionally mandated to hold the executive accountable, commissions only serve the executive,” the party charged.

It said that commissions of inquiry are simply political tools designed to shield the executive from accountability, saying this was a: “grotesque contradiction in a constitutional democracy”.