In a summary of the report, Mchunu highlighted some of the recommendations including that corrupt activities and the criminal acts by politicians, public officials and people against whom there was evidence of corruption must be vigorously investigated, expeditiously prosecuted if found guilty and appropriately sentenced to avoid a culture of impunity.
The report found that this will not only help rebuild the confidence of the public in the public service but will also avoid a culture where people believe that they are politically protected from prosecution and punishment. The state must also ensure that institutions of the entire criminal justice system are immediately depoliticised.
The commission has also recommended that an inter-ministerial task force of the security cluster ministers be set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa to look into the political killings immediately and review the workings of the security agencies to ensure that coordination and coherence between them are reinforced in practice.
“The recruiting, training and deployment of police [must] be improved through ensuring that properly trained people are recruited, adequate and specialised training is given, and appropriate police be deployed in appropriate situations,” recommended the commission.
Other recommendations included that:
- Political parties must take responsibility for the violent competition between their members for political positions and power.
- Political parties must immediately settle differences within and between themselves through peaceful means using negotiation, mediation and other consensus building techniques to avoid the continuing murder of politicians and public officials.
- Political parties must discipline their members whose conduct encourages or results in political intolerance and violence, and where they are involved in or accomplices to killings, they must be reported to the relevant law enforcement authorities.
- The state must urgently investigate the violation of the provision of Section 217 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and where necessary revise its procedures to ensure that it complies with the constitutional provisions of fairness, equity, transparency, competitiveness, and cost effectiveness.
The commission also recommended political education about democratic practices, universal practice of the peaceful political competition and that the state immediately take measures to depoliticise and professionalise the public service.