Nhleko did not seek legal advice on unconstitutional Nkandla report
11 May 2016
The Minister of Police, Nathi Nhleko, has revealed in a reply to a DA parliamentary question that he did not receive any legal advice in the compilation of his discredited Nkandla report. This in itself should see the Minister disciplined and fired for thwarting due process and the Constitution.
The Minister in his reply states that he “did not seek or obtain any legal advice during the compilation of his report into the security upgrades at the private home [Nkandla] of the President.”
Had the Minister sought legal advice, he would have known from the very outset that his report was inconsistent with due process and established legal precedent. In doing so, he would have spared his reputation huge embarrassment and not sullied that of Parliament and the Constitution. The simple fact is that Minister Nhleko tabled in Parliament a report that had a deeply flawed and irregular legal premise and was riddled with fanciful distortions.
As such, his conduct throughout this debacle render him unfit to continue serving as a Cabinet Minister. That the Minister still stands by his report is a demonstration of his utter contempt for the Rule of Law, due process and the Constitution even after the Constitutional Court effectively set aside his report as irrational and therefore unlawful.
Chief Justice Moegoeng Moegoeng stated unequivocally that “There was everything wrong with the National Assembly stepping into the shoes of the Public Protector, by passing a resolution that purported effectively to nullify the findings made and the remedial action taken, by the Public Protector and replacing it with its own findings and ‘remedial action’. This, the rule of law is dead against … by passing that resolution, the National Assembly effectively flouted its obligations."
Parliament made itself complicit in this mess and now has an opportunity to right its wrongs and to move steadfastly to give effect to section 55(2) of the Constitution by rescinding its report absolving President Zuma of all liability that flowed from Minister Nhleko’s compromised findings.
The bottom line is that Nhleko’s report was conjured up to discredit and undermine a Chapter Nine institution while usurping the role of the courts, all in an effort to protect Jacob Zuma at the expense of the Constitution.
This cannot be tolerated. As such, the DA will move that the report submitted to Parliament by the Minister Nhleko and the Ad Hoc Committee report subsequently adopted by the National Assembly (NA) be rescinded in terms of NA Rule 95(2)(b) on the grounds that it is borne of legal invalidity.
On 03 August 2016, South Africans have an opportunity to vote in the Local Government Elections for DA governments that put the Constitution first and to fire local government officials who, like Minister Nhleko, choose themselves, President Zuma and the ANC above the needs of the millions of South Africans who so desperately need change - change that stops corruption and provides better services for all.
Issued by Zakhele Mbhele, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 11 May 2016
