Hlaudi Judgement vindicates the DA's views on the powers of the Public Protector

24 October 2014

The Democratic Alliance welcomes today's judgment of the Western Cape High Court which ordered the suspension of Hlaudi Motsoeneng pending disciplinary action against him.

This mirrors the steps ordered by the Public Protector as remedial action in her Report "When Governance and Ethics Fail", a report on allegations of maladministration and the irregular appointment of the COO of the SABC.

Judge Schippers found that while the findings of the Public Protector are not outright binding on organs of state, they equally cannot be ignored. The implication of this judgement is that organs of state must implement the findings and remedial action of the Public Protector unless they declare rational grounds, that would stand up in a court, for not doing so.

The implications of this finding in the Nkandla scandal are immense. In the Nkandla Report, the Public Protector ordered the President to pay a reasonable percentage of the costs of the non-security upgrades to his private home. It is clear that the judgment applies to this remedial action too. The President, and the Nkandla Ad Hoc Committee, cannot ignore the remedial action in this report.

The DA will be studying the judgment in great detail, and will discuss its implications with our legal team. But one thing is clear: there is an obligation on the President to not ignore the findings of the Public Protector.

The President must now do the right thing and pay the money he owes South Africa.

Statement issued by James Selfe MP, Chairperson of the DA's Federal Executive, October 24 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter