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THE ANC’s statement claiming that National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete did not reject the state capture report from the public protector’s office is an attempt by the party to clean up the mess” she has created‚ the DA said in a statement yesterday.

In a statement on Friday night, parliament confirmed it had received a letter from public protector Thuli Madonsela requesting that Mbete keep the report safe.

A subsequent statement, purporting to be from Mbete’s office‚ claimed that she would return the report to the public protector’s office.

The speaker has an obligation in terms of the Rules of the Assembly to table all documents received for the information of members‚ in order to ensure that the business of the Assembly is conducted in an open and transparent manner.

This report, however, cannot be handled in the same manner. The report will accordingly be returned to the office of the public protector,” the statement read.

The office of the ANC chief whip yesterday disputed the contents of the statement, saying it had met with Mbete and she had refuted the allegation that she decided to return Madonsela’s report.

The fact that the ANC have now‚ through a party statement‚ distanced the speaker from parliament’s official communication‚ demonstrates its desperation to clean up the mess she has created,” the DA said in a statement.

The public should not be fooled. That was a statement issued in the name of the speaker‚ and one finds it hard to believe it was issued without her knowledge and consideration,” the DA said.

Again, Baleka Mbete has opted to wear her hat as ANC chairperson instead of the speaker of the National Assembly.

The DA will announce further steps in ensuring this report is made public at a press conference in Johannesburg tomorrow.

We will not allow for the ANC to once again frustrate the functioning of the public protector’s office in a bid to protect Jacob Zuma from answering for his conduct,” the statement concludes.