Mbete 'regrets' tone of engagement with public protector
Cape Town – National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete on Sunday said she "regretted" the hostile reception Public Protector Thuli Madonsela got while presenting her budget to a parliamentary committee last year.
A journalist had asked whether Mbete regretted the "brutal nature" of the engagement between Madonsela and some ANC MPs.
"I don’t believe she ever went to any of the ad-hoc committee meetings. She was never part of that," Mbete told journalists at a briefing called to respond to the Constitutional Court's ruling on Nkandla.
"We understand what was reported to have happened in the justice portfolio committee and I can tell you I also regret some of what I read in the media happened in terms of the tone of engagement with her, but that is all I can say."
Mbete said she could not be expected to anticipate whether certain MPs were now going to say anything or change their views.