IT was with great relief here at the Mahogany Ridge that we learnt that the ANC was not going to rubbish Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's final report into the security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma's private residence at Nkandla.
As secretary general Gwede Mantashe put it, "The ANC condemns the mischievous and downright false assertions by some political pundits and opposition politicians that the ANC intends to either ignore the Public Protector's report or undermine the validity of her findings.
"We are asking everyone to subject the report to objective assessment and make an informed judgment about it."
And why not? The ANC has already made its own informed judgment and it is this: Mandonsela's findings, according to Mantashe, confirm the inter-ministerial task team whitewash led by Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi which suggested that unscrupulous developers and construction companies specialising in culverts and chicken runs have taken an innocent and naive government to the cleaners. Unsurprisingly, the SA Communist Party has adopted the same position.
Both the ANC and the SACP have questioned why the report was released just seven weeks before the elections. The timing, Mantashe said, "remains a source of concern in terms of the disruptive effect it will have on the election campaigns of all parties. We have already observed from the reaction of many of the opposition parties that the report has provided some ammunition to many of these parties that have nothing to offer to the electorate."
But, if not now, then when should the findings have been released?