Public Protector to hold on to state capture report
New Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said she will not release the state capture report pending completion of a court case on the matter.
|||Parliament - New Public Protector Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said on Wednesday she would not release a report on allegations of political interference by President Jacob Zuma's allies pending completion of a court case on the matter.
Mkhwebane was on Wednesday briefing Parliament’s portfolio committee on justice on the financials of her office, in a meeting filled with tension about former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s final, unreleased report on allegations of state capture.
The court will on November 1 hear an application by Zuma that the state capture report be held back because he has not had the chance to question witnesses and review any evidence that implicated him.
The Gupta family and the companies they control are the subject of the official investigation into allegations that they have had undue influence over Zuma.
The president has denied granting undue influence to brothers Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta and they have denied seeking it.
Earlier ANC MPs launched a blistering attack on Madonsela and accused her of rushing the state capture report and using consultants in compiling the report.
The ANC parliamentarians accused Madonsela of spending millions of rands on consultants in her work.
ANC MP Bongani Bongo fired the first salvo at Madonsela during the meeting of and said Madonsela did not give her successor Mkhwebane a handover report because she was busy with the state capture report.
Mkhwebane said she did not have the opportunity to meet with Madonsela and get a handover report.
She said they were planning to meet in due course.
The ANC MPs also said Madonsela had spent millions on consultants to deal with the state capture issue.
Political Bureau, Reuters and ANA