Section 2: Appointment of Commissions of Inquiry

2. Appointment of Commissions of Inquiry (1) — (2) The President may issue a commission appointing one or more Commissioners and authorising such Commissioner or Commissioners, or such quorum of Commissioners as may be specified in the commission, to inquire into the conduct of any officer in the public service, or into the conduct or management of any department of the public service, or of any public or local institution, or into any matter relating to the public service, or into any matter of public interest or concern, or into any matter in which an inquiry would be for the public welfare. (3) Every commission under subsection (2) shall specify the subject of inquiry, and shall, if there is more than one Commissioner, direct which Commissioner shall be Chairperson, and may further direct where and when the inquiry shall be held and the report rendered, and provide how the commission shall be executed, and whether the inquiry shall or shall not be held in public. C31 – 1 [Issue 1] (4) Subject to subsection (5), the inquiry shall, in the absence of a direction to the contrary, be held in public. (5) The Commission may refuse to allow the public or any portion of the public to be present at any part of the proceedings of the inquiry where, in the opinion of the Commission, it is, in the public interest, expedient to do so for reasons connected with the subject matter of the inquiry or the nature of the evidence, or for the preservation of order, or for any other reason. [S. 2 amended by Act 48 of 1991.]