D-day looms for new Thuli

THERE were few raised eyebrows last month when ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said the party’s investigation into state capture by the Gupta family had come to nothing. Not many South Africans expected a national executive committee largely beholden to President Jacob Zuma to approach the probe with rigour.

That is why we welcome this week’s news that the National Treasury has granted public protector Thuli Madonsela R1.5-million to hire forensic experts for her own state capture probe.

Two complaints were submitted to Madonsela’s office after the Sunday Times revealed in March that the Guptas had offered Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas the top job at the Treasury, then still held by Nhlanhla Nene.

Catholic priests in the Dominican Order of Southern Africa asked her to investigate the extent of Gupta meddling in state affairs. And the DA alleged that Zuma had breached the executive ethics code “by wilfully allowing persons other than himself to appoint members of the cabinet”.

Madonsela has less than three months left of her seven-year term of office, and it is doubtful whether an investigation of the necessary scope and undoubted importance can be completed before she passes the baton.

The new public protector, therefore, is destined to start work on October 1 in a blaze of publicity, and attention now turns to the 10-person committee established by parliament to interview the 59 nominees.

By August 31, when the committee reports to parliament on who it recommends for the job, we will have some idea of whether or not its six ANC members are determined to sustain the discreditable practice of putting Zuma’s interests before those of the state.