Will Madonsela release 'state capture' report?

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Will Public Protector Thuli Madonsela present her report on state capture when she releases a final batch of reports on Friday as her swansong after a tumultuous seven years in office?

According to her spokesperson Oupa Segalwe, Madonsela is still consulting her lawyers after the shock developments hours before her departure when it emerged that President Jacob Zuma and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des Van Rooyen will try and get a court interdict to stop her from releasing the "state capture" report.

"There is no decision as to whether she is going to release it at this stage," Segalwe said late on Thursday.

Strict entrance requirements to her final press conference in Pretoria include an RSVP by noon on Friday and presentation of an identity document at the security checkpoint.

She will also use the opportunity to provide an update on progress in other investigations that will be handed over to her successor Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

Segalwe noted earlier that there was no interdict yet in respect of the Zuma application - just notice of intention to apply for one on Tuesday in the High Court in Pretoria.

A warning from the Guptas

Madonsela is probing whether Zuma had any role in allegations that "his friends", the Gupta family, had offered Cabinet posts to Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and former MP Vytjie Mentor, as well as allegations that the family pressured former Cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko to give them government tenders.

All three have given evidence to Madonsela.

The Guptas themselves have issued a statement warning Madonsela to back off.

Van Rooyen's application, in which he will challenge the powers of the Public Protector to summons him to answer certain questions, will be heard by the same court on Friday at 10:00. Zuma's application will be heard on Tuesday.

Zuma appointed Van Rooyen - a former mayor and ANC MP - as finance minister in December last year, in place of Nhlanhla Nene. The move wiped R500bn off the value of South African assets.

After four days Zuma replaced him with Pravin Gordhan.

Jonas is on record as saying that the Gupta family offered him Nene's job.

News24 - http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/will-madonsela-release-state-capture-report-20161013
 
Madonsela confirms Van Rooyen interdict bid

Outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has confirmed that Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen intends applying for an interdict to prevent the release of her exit report on the "state capture" investigation.

"Yes, it's true," Madonsela said simply when asked to confirm if she knew of Van Rooyen's intentions.

This follows a notice from President Jacob Zuma's lawyers that he got the go ahead for a similar application, set down to be heard on Tuesday.

Original story: Des van Rooyen also seeks to interdict Madonsela

Both will be heard at the High Court in Pretoria with van Rooyen's application set down for 10:00 on Friday.

Van Rooyen's spokesperson Legadima Leso said he had been inundated with calls following the News24 report that the application would take place and was trying to get information from Van Rooyen because he did not know anything about it.

In an interview with News24 on Tuesday Madonsela said she would release a short report on Friday, her last day at work before her successor Busisiwe Mkhwebane takes over.

Questions allowed

The latest developments are not the only surprise over the state capture investigation.

Madonsela said in the interview that Zuma claimed she was referring to his son when she was seeking information from him, but this goes against the content of a letter she sent him during her probe.

Last week her office stated that Zuma asked her to defer the investigation to the incoming protector who he had just formally announced.

It was agreed at that meeting that Zuma would answer a list of questions put to him and come back to her with the answers. Instead, he asked that he be allowed to question the witnesses.

Madonsela explained that this is allowed but interviews would be conducted by a Public Protector office official and not Zuma's lawyers.

The next step was Zuma's application for the interdict.

Earlier News24 editor Adriaan Basson reported that it now seems unlikely that Madonsela will release her report before she leaves office.

Challenging Madonsela's powers

She also explained on Tuesday that she is not investigating state capture, but allegations in a complaint her office received that wealthy industrialists the Guptas had benefited from proximity to certain high-ranking officials and may have had a hand in their appointment as Cabinet ministers. Also part of her investigation is whether the Executive Members Ethics Act had been violated.

Van Rooyen's application will challenge the powers of the Public Protector to summons him to answer certain questions.

Van Rooyen - a former mayor and ANC MP - was appointed Finance Minister by Zuma in December last year in place of Nhlanhla Nene – a move that wiped R500bn off the value of South African assets.

He lasted four days in the job, earning the nickname "Weekend Special" before he was replaced by Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan in turn was served a summons on Tuesday to appear in court on November 2 to be charged with fraud relating to payment of an early pension to former deputy SA Revenue Service commissioner Ivan Pillay. Former SARS commissioner Oupa Magashula and Pillay will appear in court with Gordhan.

Martin Madlala, spokesperson for Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, said that to his knowledge Zwane did not intend following suit. He has been accused of supporting the Guptas at a business meeting in Switzerland.

News24 - http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/madonsela-confirms-van-rooyen-interdict-bid-20161013
 
Just get it over with and release the report already. We all know #1 is a criminal and treasonous.

Will be nothing new once the report is released
 
Her office runs off a limited budget. Zuma has unlimited access to the best legal advice at our expense. Of course our unlimited funding outwitted her. The report will not be released today.
 
She cannot release it and probably will not release it, to stay on the right side of the law. The only way this report will be released is if she gives it to a fellow worker who does so, but I doubt she will.

All this proves is that the state has been captured. This means that Jacob Zuma will never step down. There is absolutely no way the Guptas will allow this and lose their investments in capturing the state. This is the best evidence we have of a dictatorship.
 
Milano said:
Her office runs off a limited budget. Zuma has unlimited access to the best legal advice at our expense. Of course our unlimited funding outwitted her. The report will not be released today.
Click to expand...

+1

Much more serious implications. It puts one more notch on South Africa's international status as a corrupt, power hungry oligarchy.

It also invites a lot of "unnecessary attention" as to just where all the vanishing money is going.
 
eg2505 said:
Put it on wikileaks then we will all know what went down
And nobody can interdict or censor it there.
Click to expand...

Problem is the info would be seen as compromised and would probably not be worth much and dismissed.
 
diesel said:
Problem is the info would be seen as compromised and would probably not be worth much and dismissed.
Click to expand...
I don't expect any legal consequences anyway. I'm hoping it splits the anc and causes those mps with a shred of integrity to vote yes in the imminent impeachment vote
 
IMO all unpublished work will be squashed like a bug.

Hope that I'm wrong.

Madonsela must be under incredible pressure, feel sorry for her.

And I believe that the PP Office will henceforth also be under Zupta control.
 
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I think van Rooyen's interdict is going to be heard at 10 this morning, if it's not granted, she will release the report.
 
who leaves a report for the last second? That report is probably so far from complete that this interdict attempt comes as a sweet relief for Madonsela. She will not fight it.
 
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