Johannesburg - Ministers involved in the abuse of state funds in the Nkandla saga can now look forward to being reprimanded following the Constitutional Court ruling on the powers of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
But it remains unclear what President Jacob Zuma - found by the Concourt to have acted inconsistently with the law by ignoring Madonsela’s remedial actions - is likely to do.
Madonsela, in her Secure in Comfort report on the R246 million of taxpayers' money spent at Zuma's private home, directed the president to reprimand the ministers for the “appalling manner” in which the project was handled and state funds abused.
This week, after the Constitutional Court ruling confirmed her remedial actions were binding, almost two years after she directed Zuma to act on the ministers, Madonsela said the nature of the reprimand was up to the president.
“The idea is for the president to raise awareness among ministers regarding what is right and wrong in the handling of state power and resources; what to do when being made aware of an unfolding irregularity,” she said. “And (this) is to ensure that they never allow improper handling of public power and resources.”
Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi and Police Minister Nathi Nhleko appear the most likely to take the fall for the handling of the Nkandla scandal, even though it pre-dates their appointments to those portfolios.
Madonsela, in her Nkandla report, rained down findings of maladministration, improper behaviour, ethical violations and procedural failings on several ministers and their departments.
An inter-ministerial report released before Madonsela's report red-flagged former minister of public works Geoff Doidge and his deputy at the time, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu.
The pair served in the positions when the Nkandla upgrade began in 2009.
Last year, both Nxesi and Nhleko led an ad-hoc committee on Nkandla that exonerated Zuma and sought to usurp Madonsela’s Secure in Comfort findings as ruled by the Concourt.
Political analyst Ebrahim Fakir said while he did not know what reprimanding ministers would entail, as Madonsela directed Zuma to do, the president could simply just issue them warnings.
“But given how the president behaves he could also use this to settle political scores and get rid of people,” he said.
Constitutional law expert professor Shadrack Gutto said the president would have to look at all the applicable laws, including the constitution and the Public Protector Act to get to the substance of the behaviour of ministers.
“He (Zuma) will also have to look at the executive members' ethics act on how ministers need to behave. He must say, according to the applicable laws, this is what he is going to do to reprimand the ministers,” said Gutto.
“At the moment we are dealing with a civil claim which says you (ministers) did not obey the law.”
Saturday Star