Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance on Sunday demanded protection for both members of parliament's portfolio committee on public enterprises currently investigating allegations of state capture at Eskom and witnesses appearing before the inquiry.
The DA would write to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete in this regard, DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said.
"It is clear from recent media reports that those implicated in the illicit activity at Eskom will stop at nothing to hamper the investigation into state capture. It has already emerged that witnesses appearing before this committee are at risk, as evidenced in advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara’s affidavit in which he alleges that State Security Minister Bongani Bongo attempted to bribe him to step down as evidence leader in the inquiry," he said.
However, committee members were now also being targeted. The DA's member on this committee Natasha Mazzone had recently been followed and her vehicle had also been tampered with, Steenhuisen said.
"As the truth emerges in this inquiry into how billions of rand are being unlawfully funnelled away from our state enterprises to a small group of politically connected criminals, it is blatantly obvious that both committee members and witnesses appearing before this inquiry need to be afforded protection by parliament.
"The Democratic Alliance will not yield to intimidation or halt our efforts to ensure that those implicated in state capture are held to account and criminally prosecuted," Steenhuisen said.
City Press reported on Sunday that the 17-year-old son of acting committee chairperson Zukiswa Rantho, of the African National Congress, had been threatened by unknown men in a black Golf GTi on Thursday this week.
While Rantho has notified ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu about the threats, she said she did not know their source or what to make of them, the newspaper reported.