POLITICS

State capture: Zuma playing delay tactics – Mmusi Maimane

DA leader says it is clear that president has a lot to hide and is running out of options

State Capture: President Zuma playing delay tactics

10 October 2016

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has noted with deep concern President Jacob Zuma’s latest ploy to add unnecessary delays to the Public Protector’s probe into State Capture.

President Zuma has the propensity to employ delaying tactics when he is called to account for his indiscretions, whether they relate to his 783 counts of corruption, the Nkandla saga or answering questions in the National Assembly, to name a few recent examples.

This last ditch attempt to stall the State Capture probe points to a panicked man whose chickens have finally come home to roost. 

While President Zuma and his legal representatives are well within their rights to question witnesses and scrutinise documents relating to the State Capture probe, it appears that the President wants this independent probe to suffer the same fate as the dead on arrival State Capture probe by Luthuli House. The DA will not allow this to happen.

The President’s latest stunt comes after last week’s meeting with the Public Protector where he stated, according to a statement, that “there was no reason for the investigation to be prioritised”. It is clear that President Zuma has a lot to hide and is fast running out of options.

We cannot allow for the President to tacitly or explicitly undermine the work of the Public Protector in order to evade accountability.

Statement issued by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, 11 October 2016