Cape Town – Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture gives President Jacob Zuma 30 days to appoint a commission of inquiry to probe possible crimes and breaches of the executive code of ethics by himself and members of Cabinet.
The instruction further stipulates that the Chief Justice must appoint a judge to head the commission.
Madonsela found that Zuma may have breached the code in several instances, including if proven that it is true that the Gupta family knew last year that then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene would be removed from his post.
She ordered that the commission of inquiry should complete its work within 180 days, and that Zuma ensure, in conjunction with National Treasury, to carry out its task.
Furthermore, Madonsela called on the National Prosecuting Authority and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) to investigate those instances in the 355-page report where it appeared that “crimes may have been committed”.
She suggested that should a commission find that Zuma lied when he denied Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas’s revelation that he was offered Nene’s post by the Gupta family, he would shock the faith of South Africans in good and honest governance.
“The people of South Africa, who Deputy Minister Jonas took into his confidence in revealing this, would lose faith in open, democratic, and accountable government if President Zuma’s denials are false.”
The much-awaited document finds that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane may have flouted the Constitution and the Executive Members Ethics Act with a flight to Zurich, which he has repeatedly denied was designed to persuade Glencore to sell the Optimum coal mine to the Guptas’s Oakbay and Tegeta.
Regarding Tegeta, Madonsela makes damning observations surrounding Eskom’s relationship with the Gupta family.
African News Agency