DA requests Speaker to convene the National Assembly over unlawful Nkandla whitewash
I have written to the Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Baleka Mbete, with an urgent request to convene an sitting of the House for next week in order to rescind the Nkandla ad hoc committee reports which were adopted by the National Assembly on 13 November 2014 and 18 August 2015 respectively.
This morning the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found that the remedial actions taken by the Public Protector, such as those against the President in her report Secure in Comfort, cannot be arbitrarily substituted or ignored and must be enforced absent a review application.
Importantly, the SCA found that “an individual or body affected by any finding, decision or remedial action taken by the Public Protector is not entitled to embark on a parallel investigation process to that of the Public Protector, and adopt the position that the outcome of that parallel process trumps the findings, decision or remedial action taken by the Public Protector.”
In light of these findings the adoption of the “Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to consider the Report by the President regarding the security upgrades at the Nkandla private residence of the President, dated 11 November 2014” and the “Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to consider the report of the Minister of Police in reply to recommendations in the report of the Ad Hoc Committee to consider the report by the President regarding security upgrades at the Nkandla Private Residence of the President dated 6 August 2015” are clearly invalid.
The judgement by the SCA vindicates the long held stance taken by the Democratic Alliance in the ad hoc committees that the process of substituting the Public Protector’s remedial actions for alternative measures was irrational, illegal and unconstitutional.
The only recourse left for the President – if he takes our courts seriously – is to take the Public Protector’s findings on judicial review.
Absent a review, President Zuma now has no choice but to comply with the remedial actions taken by the Public Protector and “pay a reasonable percentage of the cost of the measures that do not relate to security, and which include Visitors’ Centre, the amphitheatre, the cattle kraal and chicken run, the swimming pool.”
Issued by Graham Charters, Acting Spokesperson to the DA Leader, 9 October 2015
