Pretoria - Public Protector Thuli Madonsela will not name the official who leaked a letter she had written to President Jacob Zuma, she said on Thursday.
“I will not name the person,” she told reporters in Pretoria.
“If anyone wants to know who it is, they must speak to the two media houses. The person who leaked the letter has to take responsibility.”
She was responding to a question on whether she would name the politician.
“Can the name calling stop? It's not helpful for democracy, it's not helpful for the country,” she replied.
Madonsela reportedly wrote to Zuma last week about the R246 million spent on upgrades at his private Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal.
In her letter she reportedly cautioned him that he was second-guessing her recommendations that he repay part of the money spent on features unrelated to security, such as a swimming pool, cattle kraal, amphitheatre, and visitors' centre.
In his reply to Madonsela's report on Nkandla, Zuma indicated that Police Minister Nathi Nhleko should determine if he should repay any of the money.
Since then, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has publicly criticised her and suggested she was working with Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters.
She called on the media to be balanced in their reports. She asked why her office was being singled out when there was a leak. Other institutions such as the Special Investigating Unit and National Prosecuting Authority have had their documents leaked in the past but were never accused of the leaks, she said.
“When my office gets blamed for things it has not done, do you think they are strengthening democracy? We hear of matters from NPA being leaked but no one claims responsibility,” she said.
Sapa