There was a heavy police presence outside the North Gauteng High Court on Tuesday, where members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other political parties and civic organisations were protesting against President Jacob Zuma’s legal attempt to stop the “State Capture” report being made public.
The report on whether the wealthy Gupta family had any undue influence on the appointment of ministers and other top government officials was compiled by Thuli Mandonsela before her tenure as Public Protector ended last month.
“Zuma knows that this is going to be bad news for him, he rushes on the last minute to do an interdict and if he’s given the opportunity he will drag us to the Supreme Court and Constitutional court until next year,” said unionist Zwelinzima Vavi outside court.
“I hope that the full bench that will be hearing this matter will put its foot down and say no to further delaying tactics,” Vavi said.
A crowd of several hundred people, including a large contingent of EFF members, had gathered outside the courthouse to protest.
Zuma, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Des van Rooyen and Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane have all asked the court to stop the release of the report.
Reports at the weekend suggested that Van Rooyen visited the Gupta family home in Saxonworld for seven consecutive days before he was appointed as finance minister. His ill-fated tenure lasted just four days before he was moved to his present portfolio.
Political parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), EFF, United Democratic Movement (UDM), and Congress of the People (COPE) are opposing the trio’s court action.
“If the court finds any adverse against him, he (Zuma) has an opportunity to go to any court and challenge the public protector’s report. But now he wants to delay it, shows in fact that he knows the Guptas captured Jacob Zuma … Jacob Zuma captured the state and he must be held responsible and accountable,” said DA leader Mmusi Maimane.
“South Africans deserve to know the truth … it’s their money. I still maintain that the people who have been defrauded the most here, are the people of this country,” Maimane said.
Mosiuoa Lekota, leader of Cope, said he had faith that the court would handle this matter in a diligent manner
“The judiciary of our country has proven itself to be outstanding in upholding the law and we are quite confident that it will not change from now,” said Lekota.
Lekota said Cope is opposing Zuma’s application because they wanted to ensure that the country remained faithful to the constitution.
“As opposition parties who have consistently insisted that the ruling party should be held to the rule of law, we cannot let the country suffer from the fatigue of struggle.”
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