Johannesburg - Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has released a report on the DA's application to investigate for what the party described as "an abuse of state resources".
This related to Minister in the Presidency Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma receiving VIP protection in 2017 after her return to South Africa following her tenure as chairperson of the Africa Union Commission.
The report reads that Mkhwebane “could not find any reason to conclude that Dr Dlamini-Zuma was improperly accorded VIP Protection Services by the Minister of Police”.
The DA however maintains that the decision to award Dlamini-Zuma VIP protection was a political decision in the run-up to the ANC’s elective conference in December 2017, by a police minister who had every reason to be in Dlamini-Zuma’s favour.
Dlamini-Zuma was the direct competitor to President Cyril Ramaphosa in the race to the ANC's top post in December 2017.
The ANC's 54th national conference elected Ramaphosa as the president of the ANC, with Ramaphosa beating Dlamini-Zuma by 179 votes.