State abandons attempt to block report
The State has abandoned its attempt to stop Public Protector Thuli Madonsela from releasing a report on the R206 million rand upgrade to President Jacob Zuma's private homestead at Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal.
In a court affidavit issued by Madonsela's office, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said it would be "academic" to persist with the application, as it had already secured the extension of time for which it had asked the court.
"We... asked the court for an extension of time to submit our written comments by 15 November," Mthethwa said in the papers.
"The respondent [Madonsela] gave an undertaking that, pending the finalisation of the application, she will not release the provisional report to the affected/implicated and interested parties... The relief contained... [has] become academic and will not be persisted with."
He said the only issue left before the court was the cost of the application.
Madonsela's provisional report on security improvements to Zuma's residence was given to the state security cluster of ministries on November 1.
This followed a special request that it have access to the report ahead of all other parties, to establish if its contents would compromise Zuma's security.
The return date for comments was November 6.
The cluster filed an urgent application last Friday to prevent Madonsela from releasing the report.
The State's application was set to have been heard by the High Court in Pretoria on Friday.
On Wednesday, Madonsela made public her court documents opposing the interdict. In them, she said the State made several attempts to stop her investigation.
Click here to view the security cluster affidavit.
-Sapa