“Give Parliament the time and space it deserves to conduct its work without any undue interference”: SACP tells Thuli Madonsela

3 August 2015

The South African Communist Party (SACP) is deeply disappointed at the manner in which the Public Protector, Adv. Thuli Madonsela behaves. She is arrogantly undermining Parliament and its processes. Her behaviour leaves the impression that there possibly may be ulterior political motives that she is pushing. She either does not fully comprehend the law governing the Office of the Public Protector or she has used the Nkandla matter to pursue a partisan agenda against both the democratically ANC-led government and the President.

It is only fair and proper for the Public Protector to stop her restlessness when Parliament is conducting its work – she must respect parliamentary processes inasmuch as she expects everyone to respect processes undertaken by her office. Playing in the media gallery as she has been doing and as she did today in Johannesburg at the expense of the credibility of legitimate processes can only leave the image of the Office of the Public Protector in tatters and undermine a constitutional body that she is actually supposed to be accountable to.     

Latest developments thus far point to the fact that Thuli Madonsela’s report, through which she painted a picture of President Jacob Zuma and his family being “Secure in Comfort”, living in “opulence” and “luxury” as a result of the upgrades at his home at Nkandla have been exposed to be wild exaggerations on her part.

Let parliament conclude this matter properly!

Statement issued by the SACP, August 3 2015