DA wants Speaker to release Madonsela’s letter on state capture report

The Democratic Alliance says it has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly‚ Baleka Mbete‚ to demand that she table the full letter sent from the former Public Protector‚ Thuli Madonsela‚ to Parliament on the safe-keeping on the state capture report.

According to a statement released by Parliamentary Communication Services on Friday‚ the report will be returned to the new Public Protector‚ Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane‚ upon her assumption of office.

“The DA finds this puzzling and contradictory to the statements made by Adv Madonsela at the time.

“At no point did she say the report should be returned back to her office – only that the report was sent to Parliament for safe-keeping‚” DA leader Mmusi Maimane said.

Madonsela was due to release the report on Friday‚ the last day of her seven-year non-renewable term as Public Protector‚ but could not as Minister of Co-operative Governance Des van Rooyen and President Jacob Zuma launched urgent applications before the high court in Pretoria on Thursday seeking to prevent the publication of the report.

The applications will be heard on November 1.

Maimane said Madonsela declared that the report was final‚ and not subject to any further amendments.

“Returning a report that is already finished and signed-off by the Office of the Public Protector simply doesn’t make any sense.”

Maimane said the publication of the full letter would allow MPs to ensure that the Public Protector’s exact request was fully adhered to.

— TMG Digital