State capture report a political tool – Zuma
Pretoria – President Jacob Zuma believes that the Public Protector's report on state capture was a political tool meant to be used to deal with certain individuals.
In an exclusive interview with ANN7 on Monday evening, Zuma spoke out about the State of Capture report by former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, in which she recommended that Zuma establish a commission of inquiry into state capture and that Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng choose the judge to preside over it.
The report looked into whether Zuma's friends, the controversial Gupta family, had undue influence on the executive. Zuma took the recommendation on review, arguing that only he has the authority to appoint the judge.
Zuma said state capture was political propaganda as only a small number of people had been implicated. He said none of the three arms of government – the executive, judiciary and legislature – had been captured.
"When I establish the commission of inquiry, one of the things they will have to clarify [is], 'what is a state capture?' Nobody said there are judges or the whole Parliament captured," said Zuma.