DA'S CALL FOR PARLIAMENTARY PROBE INTO PRESIDENT ZUMA

3 October 2013

The Office of the ANC Chief Whip notes DA parliamentary leader's announcement today that she will be tabling a resolution requesting Parliament to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the so-called "fresh allegations" that President Jacob Zuma was involved in the unauthorised landing of the Gupta family aircraft at Waterkloof Airforce base. The DA leader also indicated that she will report these "fresh allegations" to the public protector for an investigation.

There is absolutely nothing fresh in the so-called "fresh allegations" she refers to in her statement. The team of directors-general who investigated the incident, which the ANC condemned at the time, looked at these same allegations she talks about and found that names of senior government leaders were dropped by certain individuals to facilitate the unauthorised landing.

The story of a colonel alleging to have been instructed by another official who claims to have been instructed by a government leader to act in a certain manner is a typical name-dropping narrative that the investigation has already dealt with. Only the DA' obsession to make news at whatever cost could rehash such an old story and sell it as a "fresh allegation" worthy of an investigation by Parliament and the public protector.

It is entirely up to the public proctor's wisdom and independent discretion whether her institution gets drawn into such political games of the leader of the opposition. However, as the ANC, we will not allow Parliament to be dragged into what is clearly a figment of one MP's overzealous imagination. For her to expect the entire parliament to expend its energies on such a matter is illustrative of how little she regards this institution.

Statement issued by the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, October 3 2013

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