Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday said it was taking the Public Protector's report on the Vrede Dairy Farm project on judicial review, calling her findings a sham.
Speaking in Cape Town, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said there were too many omissions from the report and said Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane even failed to probe what was already in the public domain.
"There is no effort shown to probe the true corruption at the heart of the Vrede scam, and to hold those responsible accountable. Ace Magashule and Mosebenzi Zwane get off unscathed in what was a scheme that they conceived, planned and executed - along with the Guptas - to defraud the public of hundreds of millions of rand," said Maimane.
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"After four years, Advocate Mkhwebane simply cannot blame lack of capacity for this embarrassment of a report."
Mkhwebane's report into the tender which is at the centre of corruption allegations against the controversial Gupta family and leading political figures, including Free State Premier Ace Magashule and former provincial agriculture MEC and current mining resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane, was released on Friday.
Mkhwebane made no adverse finding against Magashule or Zwane and, whilst acknowledging media reports regarding Gupta companies linked to the controversial tender, also made no finding against the family and its businesses.
Instead, she ordered Magashule to institute disciplinary action against provincial agriculture head of department Peter Thabete and other officials for the illegal issuing of the more than R220 million tender to the Estina Dairy company in 2012.