Zuma hints he could challenge Madonsela’s state capture findings
President Jacob Zuma says he had sought to block the Public Protector’s report on state capture because he laboured under the misunderstanding that it was incomplete, and will decide once he had studied the contents whether to challenge the document.
The presidency says President Zuma went to court to interdict former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela from releasing an interim report pursuant to her investigation into whether Zuma and other state officials had inappropriate links with the Gupta family and had breached the codes of ethical conduct.
“When the application was launched, it was not clear whether the investigation was finalised,” says Zuma’s office.
“The Public Protector has since clarified that the Report was signed and finalised by the former Public Protector on 14 October 2016.”
The presidency adds that Zuma withdrew his high court bid to stop the release of the report “in the interests of justice and [a] speedy resolution of the matter”.
It adds that all citizens have the right to fair and reasonable administrative justice and once the report is released Zuma will study it with care to see whether there is a need to return to the courts to ask that it be reviewed.
“The President will give consideration to the contents of the report in order to ascertain whether it should be a subject of a court challenge.”
The Pretoria High Court has ordered that the report be released by 5pm on Wednesday.