National Treasury has committed additional funding for Public Protector Thuli Madonsela for her probe into state capture, it emerged on Thursday.
“Treasury made a commitment that we will receive R1.5m for this purpose,” Madonsela’s spokesman Oupa Segalwe confirmed.
Earlier this year Madonsela made repeated calls for funding of R3 million after the Democratic Alliance requested her to investigate ‘state capture’, as well as whether President Jacob Zuma had breached the Executive Ethics Code in this regard, following allegations that the wealthy Gupta family were influencing key government decisions.
“We will receive half of the money. We understand that we are not the only state entity that needs funding and we are grateful for the little we are given,” said Segalwe.
The money, said Segalwe, could not come directly from Treasury as it would be an “anomaly”, but would come via the justice department.
While unusual, Segalwe said the request for additional funding from Treasury was in line with a new approach being adopted by the public protector.
“Following our strategic planning process ealier this year, we decided that when we receive requests to undertake massive investigations that would be undertaken by a Commission of Inquiry, we will approach government for funding on a case by case basis,” he said.
“The Public Protector announced long before she was approached to investigate this matter that she was going to take this approach. In addition, the resources will help us insource critical expertise including forensics, which we do not have internally.”
Segalwe said the investigation had not yet started in earnest.
While the proper processes are being followed before the allocation can be made, Segalwe said: “The agreement is that we should use some of our money while we await the transfer.”
In addition to the request from the DA, the public protector also received a complaint from the Dominican order, which asked her to probe all government contracts, as well as mining licences, awarded to companies linked to the Gupta family.
The two complaints were brought after Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas said in March that the controversial Gupta family offered him the position of finance minister last year. Zuma fired then finance minister Nhlanhla Nene shortly after this secret offer, causing upheaval in South Africa’s financial markets.
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