The Democratic Alliance on Sunday urged the African National Congress parliamentary caucus to back a DA motion in support of National Treasury and its efforts to fight corruption.
The main front in ’s battle for complete executive control was the National Treasury, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Sunday.
“Without his hands on the purse strings he is unable to hand out the patronage on the scale that he desires, and push through projects which will be to the benefit of his family, friends, and cronies,” he said.
Preventing National Treasury from being “incorporated into Zuma Inc” was therefore a matter of national importance which should be supported by all South Africans who wanted to protect the Constitution and root-out corruption.
As the elected assembly of the people, Parliament had its role to play in this regard. “On too many occasions, due to the ANC’s cowardly support for the executive, this institution has found itself on the side of corruption instead of accountability. This must come to an end.”
For this reason, the DA would, at the earliest opportunity, table a motion in Parliament requesting the House’s support for National Treasury’s efforts to fight corruption and state capture.
“If the ANC chief whip [Jackson Mthembu] is serious about being more than a commentator in the media, he will instruct his caucus to support this motion,” Maimane said.
Turning to former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on state capture, he said the DA would be in court on November 1 to argue for the release of the report.
Zuma’s attempts to once again frustrate the work of the office of the public protector and to do whatever he could to prevent the report being made public proved that he had something very serious to hide.
“Jacob Zuma, and his proxy, [Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister] Des van Rooyen’s interdict [to prevent the report’s release] to be heard on 1 November 2016 will therefore be a defining moment in protecting our Chapter Nine institutions and ensuring that the first steps are taken to push back the wave of state capture which the president has facilitated,” Maimane said.
Given this importance, the DA had decided to become an intervening party in the matter to be heard in the High Court in Pretoria, and would argue strongly in favour of the release of the report and that it be made public without delay.
The courts had been clear in both the Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Nkandla matters that a public protector’s report could be taken on review if there were concerns. “This should be the only recourse available to the president, his Gupta friends, and those ministers who clearly have a strong allegiance to both,” he said.
The DA would also request an assurance that incoming Public Protector Bosisiviwe Mkhwebane would release the report. To any degree, Madonsela’s statement that the report was final and could not be changed meant that the current report had to be made public.
“We will therefore seek assurances from the new public protector that the report will be tabled before Parliament and made public once the court matter has been resolved.”
In view of the “bombshell” by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan expressed in court papers made public this weekend, it was obvious that this report was in the public interest and it had to see the light of day so that all those implicated could be held accountable, Maimane said.
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