Public Protector’s Gupta investigation needs to be impartial and properly funded
22 March 2016
The DA calls on the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, to accede to the request made by the Public Protector (PP), Adv. Thuli Madonsela, for adequate funding of the investigation into the “state capture” by the Gupta family.
It is imperative that the Public Protector’s investigation, called for by the DA after numerous revelations over the last few days linking members of the Gupta family to political influence, is carried out impartially and is properly funded.
Adv. Madonsela’s term as Public Protector ends in October this year. If her investigation is not carried out before then, due to political pressure or inadequate funding, government will be seen to not be complying with its mandate of safeguarding the independence and investigative capacity of the Public Protector and other Chapter 9 institutions. In the mounting instances of “state capture” it is critical that our institutions in defence of democracy are themselves protected from government’s persistent attacks- financially and otherwise.
We will not allow that to happen. The Public Protector must be appropriately resourced to be able to investigate every instance of corruption reported to her office. There is already a backlog of 260 cases – the Gupta family investigation cannot be added to this list.