Former public protector Thuli Madonsela says there is no point in having a judicial inquiry into state capture if President Jacob Zuma is not investigated. Zuma has said he will institute an inquiry into state capture, but he wants to be excluded from it, and wants any details concerning his involvement in state capture referred back to the current public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
But in an interview with eNCA, Madonsela said this proposal makes no sense. Just over a year ago, Madonsela released her report into state capture, which recommended that a judicial inquiry be instituted, but with the chairperson to be determined by the Chief Justice, not Zuma.
Madonsela told eNCA: "That [Zuma's proposal] defies logic for me because this whole investigation was only about him... With due respect, in terms of the report that I issued, the president is already implicated. But yesterday [Sunday] he was openly telling the nation in Kagiso that the people criticising him are foreign agents, he's done nothing wrong.
"But that's disrespecting the Constitution. Because a constitutional body, given the power to investigate, already found that... there's evidence of wrongdoing, and one year down the line, he still hasn't answered. But he's defying the law by firstly telling people he's done nothing wrong, and then casting aspersions on people who believe he's done something wrong."
#StateCapture inquiry pointless without Zuma according to Madonsela >> https://t.co/blJ0pP47IRpic.twitter.com/B2jR9jELQI
— eNCA (@eNCA) November 7, 2017
.@ThuliMadonsela3 says President Zuma's claims he's done nothing wrong - and accusations his critics are "agents" - are dishonest, unlawful pic.twitter.com/i8M4aUcXWd
— Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) November 6, 2017
Madonsela said the allegations, and evidence, pointed to the president and his "uncomfortable relationship" with the Gupta family.
"The allegation is that he and companies related to his family, the Zuma family and the Gupta family are being allowed to influence state decisions regarding who should be a minister, who should be a DG, who should be on boards of state-owned enterprises. And the allegation is that he probably violated his executive ethics code in allowing this.
"The evidence that is there at the moment suggests that these people knew, it suggests that there is an uncomfortable relationship between the president and these people. The evidence also suggests that the president has violated the Executive Members Ethic Code, section 96 of the Constitution... in failing to investigate this matter as soon as it came up," she said.
Reflecting on her time in office, Madonsela told Business Day in an interview that the techniques used by her office were evidence-based.
"Technology does not lie. That is how you can say that Mr [Brian] Molefe was at Saxonwold at a certain time."