Ministers step up attack on Madonsela

FOR the second time in two days, security ministers took on public protector Thuli Madonsela yesterday, hinting that she could face criminal charges if she defied them.

After a week-long battle with her, the ministers succeeded in forcing her to delay a report on Nkandla that had been expected to be made public yesterday.

The ministers went to court on Friday in a bid to stop Madonsela releasing the report on President Jacob Zuma’s rural retreat. The matter was postponed until next Friday.

Yesterday, the ministers, led by Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, again went on the attack against Madonsela, accusing her of being unreasonable.

But the Democratic Alliance has threatened court action to force the release of the report.

The ANC accused Madonsela of being unreasonable by not acceding to a request by the ministers for an extension before releasing the report.

The cluster of ministers were Radebe, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele. They were backed by Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi, under whose department Nkandla falls.

It was unreasonable for her to refuse us a very reasonable request

The ministers said Madonsela had not given them enough time to study the report. They wanted 10 days, but she would allow them only three.

This, said Radebe, had given the ministers no choice but to go to court to stop her from releasing the Nkandla report.

Radebe said yesterday that the ministers had exhausted all avenues to have their time to read the report extended by Madonsela: “It was unreasonable for her to refuse us a very reasonable request.”

He said comments by Madonsela indicated that she would release the report yesterday regardless of whether or not she had received the ministers’ comments on elements of the report.

“If we had not gone to court, this provisional report would have been released without the necessary comments on security-related matters, which the public protector herself requested,” said Radebe.

In an affidavit submitted to the High Court in Pretoria on Friday, Mthethwa said some of the information contained in the report on the R206-million security upgrades at Zuma’s home was top secret and could compromise his security.

He said Madonsela would be breaking the law if she released such information.

“A release of the provisional report to third parties such as ‘other affected, implicated and interested parties’ without prior authorisation of the applicants [security-cluster ministers], who are entrusted by the relevant legislation to grant authorisation for classified and/or confidential information to be released to third parties, is unlawful and carries with it a criminal penalty,” stated the affidavit.

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte welcomed the court action.

“It was unreasonable to expect the cluster to respond to a 357-page report

dealing with an investigation that has lasted almost a year and involves a wide range of legislative and security issues in the time given by the public protector,” she said.

However, DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, who requested the investigation, called the court action and yesterday’s press release “a poor attempt at damage control”.

“This is about blocking its release so as to prevent accountability. As the affected party who requested this investigation, I am greatly concerned that my rights to view the report are being undermined,” she said.

Correspondence between Nxesi and Madonsela reveals that she turned down a request by the ministers to be given until next Friday to submit their comments. Instead, she gave them a two-day extension and insisted she would release the report yesterday.

On Monday, the ministers complained that the report was “voluminous” and that five days were not enough to “properly analyse the report and identify security concerns”.

But Madonsela said reading her report should “not take more than two days”.

She said leaving it with the ministers for two weeks would be “prejudicial” to other parties and not in the public interest.