Johannesburg - It was unethical and unlawful to publish the public protector's provisional reports, Thuli Madonsela's office said on Friday.
“It violates section 7(2) of the Public Protector Act 23, 1994,” her spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi said in a statement.
“As a rule, we do not comment on whatever purports to be a provisional report of the public protector as those are not reports of the public protector.”
Section 7(2) of the act states, “No person shall disclose to any other person the contents of any document in the possession of a member of the office of the public protector or the record of any evidence given before the public protector, deputy public protector or a person… during an investigation, unless the Public Protector determines otherwise.”
The Mail & Guardian on Friday reported that President Jacob Zuma received substantial personal benefits from the multi-million rand upgrade to his Nkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal.
This emerged in Madonsela's provisional report into the upgrades.
Government has stated the upgrades were essential for Zuma's security, but Madonsela found a swimming pool, visitors' centre, amphitheatre, cattle kraal, marquee area, extensive paving, and new houses for relatives included in the upgrade at “enormous cost” to the taxpayer.
Madonsela's report recommended the president be called to account by Parliament for violating the executive ethics code on two counts.
These were for failing to protect state resources, and misleading Parliament for suggesting he and his family had paid for all non-security-related features.
One of the key allegations listed in the report stated that costs escalated from an initial R27 million to R215 million, with a further R31 million in works outstanding. - Sapa