The acting chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises said on Wednesday she was waiting for a formal response on a request for more funding for its planned investigation into allegations of State capture at State-owned enterprises.

The committee sent a multi-party delegation to meet with the legislature’s chair of chairs, Cedric Frolick, after members expressed their dismay at a legal opinion from Parliament advising against hiring an independent evidence leader, as it would be expensive.

Acting chairperson, Zukiswa Rantho, said: “We met with Mr Frolic yesterday (Tuesday) to indicate the kind of resources and the time-frames the committee is looking at. He promised to write back to the committee today (Wednesday) with a response, but he was amenable to the request of the committee.”

Rantho said Frolick had agreed with the process the committee wanted to follow and the assessment of the resources it would require.

She added that members had raised the possibility of bringing in Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara as evidence leader, given his experience and his work as evidence leader in the parliamentary inquiry into the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

The committee had initially sought Vanara’s services but was told it would not be possible given his workload as the Registrar of Members’ Interests.

Rantho said it was eager to “urgently start with investigations into the State capture allegations” and confirmed that the main focus of the probe would be Eskom, Transnet and Denel.

She said the committee had noted the “hasty disposal” of the media assets of the Gupta family, who are at the centre of state capture allegations, and would take legal advice on how this might impact on the work of the committee.