DA’s Maimane stands up for Thuli

000 24/09/2014 DA Parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane addressed the media at Constitution Hill in respond to the attacks the have received by ANC at the Parliament. Picture:Nokuthula Mbatha

000 24/09/2014 DA Parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane addressed the media at Constitution Hill in respond to the attacks the have received by ANC at the Parliament. Picture:Nokuthula Mbatha

Published Sep 25, 2014

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Johannesburg - DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane has again cast doubt on the integrity of Parliament’s ad hoc committee on the misuse of public funds at President Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla home.

Maimane said Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report must be the ultimate authority - and not the report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) - compelling Zuma to reimburse the state a portion of the R246 million spent on non-security-related upgrades.

Maimane’s statement on Wednesday came as the ad hoc committee was due to appear in Parliament on Thursday.

“The Chapter 9 institution’s report of the public protector has said money was wasted and people must be held to account. And that report, ‘Secure in Comfort’, must reign supreme,” Maimane said at the DA’s Heritage Day celebrations at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, Joburg.

The ANC has been at odds with opposition parties about the composition, and mandate, of the ad hoc committee.

Some parties went as far as arguing that the purpose of the committee was to review Madonsela’s findings.

The ANC has, however, insisted that the committee’s mandate was merely “to consider” the findings of various probes into the Nkandla project, as well as Zuma’s own submissions to Parliament.

The committee has a tough task ahead if it is to meet its October 24 deadline to report to the National Assembly, as the next month will include a two-week recess.

Emphasising that Madonsela’s report be regarded as the ad hoc committee’s guiding principle, Maimane said: “It would be important that a Chapter 9 institution like the Public Protector must be above the SIU.

“Otherwise, any president could set up an institution board that comes to a different conclusion.

“But if we fail to agree on that, I will hope that the committee will achieve what the ANC wants it to achieve, which is to delay (and) to not hold anybody to account until we run out of time, which can’t be the case.

“The best discussion is that there were remedial actions that the public protector recommended, and that should be the issue.”

Earlier, while delivering his Heritage Day speech, Maimane accused the ANC of undermining state institutions to shield Zuma from accountability.

“When the president equates the SIU report on Nkandla to that of the public protector... it means the public protector will always be at odds with other institutions of government - in the view of President Jacob Zuma.”

This and the ANC tendency to “undermine state institutions”, Maimane said, showed that South Africa had “a grave constitutional crisis”.

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The Star

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