ANC caucus hits back at Madonsela
Public protector is condescending and the DA arrogant, Sizani complains
THE ANC caucus has accused public protector Thuli Madonsela of being condescending to parliament and President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet ministers. It has also blasted the DA, saying its call for MPs to reconvene from their recess to deal with the party’s request for an ad hoc committee to be set up to start impeachment proceeding against Zuma was “extremely arrogant”.
Madonsela found last week that R246-million of public funds had been used to upgrade Zuma’s private Nkandla home in KwaZulu-Natal and that the president and his family had improperly benefited from the expenditure.
ANC parliamentary chief whip Stone Sizani said yesterday the party was not impressed by Madonsela’s recent comments about the independence of parliament’s justice committee and an interministerial committee that did a cabinet investigation into the upgrade at Nkandla.
“Following the release of her report, the public protector disdainfully referred to the interministerial task team which investigated the upgrades as a ‘little committee of ministers’,” Sizani said.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Madonsela made damaging comments against parliament’s portfolio committee on justice, suggesting the oversight body she reported to should not be trusted with protecting her office against political attacks.
Madonsela said the process of impeaching heads of an office similar to hers should be taken away from MPs and transferred to the Judicial Service Commission. She has previously had public spats with the justice committee over her powers to determine issues to be probed by her office.
“She has also spoken condescendingly of parliament, a constitutional institution that she is accountable to, by questioning its independence and suggesting that some of its powers – such as the power to appoint or impeach the president – be clipped,” Sizani said.
“All these remarks contain political overtones that are unacceptable coming from the head of
‘ There cannot be some rules for members of the public and a different set for those in power
an independent Chapter 9 institution. By making such disparaging remarks against two arms of state . . . we strongly believe she has overstepped the mark.”
Turning to the DA’s push for Zuma to be kicked out of the Union Buildings, Sizani said the national legislature was not in a position to deal with the public protector’s report as she had not tabled it before parliament.
He made it clear the ANC would block any attempt to have Zuma removed.
Sizani said the DA’s move to impeach Zuma from office was based on a misinterpretation of Madonsela’s report.
“It would be absolutely unthinkable for a constitutional institution such as parliament to initiate proceedings against a sitting president on the basis of one party’s faulty opinion on a report of a Chapter 9 institution.
“Similarly, it is extremely arrogant of such a party to seek to impose its own self-serving in- terpretation on the rest of the institution,” he said.
Although she released the report to the public last week, Madonsela has not yet tabled it in parliament, saying she would allow Zuma to submit it together with his comments.
The DA said only parliamentary Speaker Max Sisulu had the final say on proposed impeachment proceedings against Zuma.
“I suspect Mr Sizani’s sudden urge to react to the issue after a full week of silence has perhaps been brought on by the letter released by the Speaker on Tuesday noting that he is in fact considering the DA request for the motion to initiate impeachment proceedings,” DA caucus chairman Wilmot James said.
“The DA remains resolute in our efforts to ensure all those responsible – including President Zuma – are held to account.”
The DA also said the president should be held personally liable for fringe tax benefits amounting to R16.8-million in relation to the money spent on the Nkandla upgrade.
DA MP and party finance spokesman Tim Harris said the SA Revenue Service should investigate how much taxpayers’ money had actually been spent on Nkandla.
Madonsela’s report calculated the cost to taxpayers at more than R246-million.
Harris said it had been calculated that spending on nonsecurity-related upgrades at the homestead was R52.8-million.
The DA would also ask acting SARS commissioner Ivan Pillay to look into the exact amount that Zuma should be liable for.
“There cannot be some rules for members of the public and a different set of rules for those in power,” he said.
The R16.8-million the DA wants Zuma to repay in taxes could be used to build 140 RDP houses, fund 70 students for a three-year degree, employ 93 police officers or 86 nurses for a year, or pay half of the legal fees for the families of the Marikana victims, Harris said.