The leaking of confidential information by a senior politician is a big problem, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said .
“The leaking and publishing of confidential information... is a problem,” she told reporters in Pretoria.
But when it was a senior politician, “this is an even bigger problem”, she said.
Madonsela said there was “hysteria” after her Nkandla letter to President Jacob Zuma was leaked.
This hysteria was “symptomatic of more underlying problems”, she said.
Mandonsela said she was “particularly concerned over statements attributed to officials outside government”.
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.
Sapa