TSHWANE, October 14 (ANA) – Outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will not be releasing her much anticipated preliminary report on allegations of state capture report, the High Court in Pretoria heard.
Advocate Azhar Bham, for the Public Protector, told Judge Dawie Fourie that even though the report has been finalised and signed off, Thuli Madonsela had taken the decision not to release it on Friday “only as a courtesy to the courtâ€.
Fourie proposed that in view of another similar application against the Public Protector, this time from President Jacob Zuma, set to be argued in court on Tuesday, the two applications should be heard simultaneously next week.
He then asked counsel for the different parties to draft an order, which he would hand down as the “preservation order†when the court resumes on Friday.
Opposition parties including the Congress of the People, Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters and the United Democratic Movement had joined the court case, opposing Van Rooyen’s applications to interdict Madonsela from releasing the state capture report.
The EFF, through its attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi urged the court to compel Madonsela to release the report immediately.
Madonsela, who is leaving office Friday at the end of her seven-year term, had earlier in the week announced that she would release her preliminary report into allegations of “state capture†by the controversial Gupta family. The Guptas have been accused of influencing the appointment of cabinet ministers – a prerogative of the President – and other senior government officials in order to benefit their business concerns.
Zuma, who has strong ties to the wealthy Gupta family, on Thursday applied for an interdict to halt the release of the report. This came three days after he demanded an undertaking from Madonsela that she would not wrap up her investigation until he had been allowed to question other witnesses in the investigation.
The president asked for more time and complained that he was given two days’ notice before Madonsela interviewed him last Thursday, and was expected to give evidence on matters of which he was not forewarned when she requested the meeting.
Madonsela had indicated that she would release the report on Friday, but has since said on advice from her legal team she would not be doing so.
She, however, insists Zuma has had enough time, since March 22 this year, to answer her questions on the Gupta’s alleged influence on the State.
Zuma and Van Rooyen have come under fire for interdicting Madonsela, with political parties and analysts accusing them of panicking and applying delaying tactics in the midst of possible damning findings.
– African News Agency (ANA)
