The office of the Presidency said Thuli Madonsela must step back and allow processes to unfold.
In a statement, the Presidency mentioned that it is concerned about continuing public statements by the former public protector (PP), Advocate Thuli Madonsela on matters relating to President Jacob Zuma and the State of Capture Report.
“Adv Madonsela has discharged her duties as the public protector and has no further role to play in the process regarding the said report. Her unwarranted public attacks on the President, as happened in Stellenbosch on Thursday [10 November], are unbecoming and are not helpful. It would be prudent, therefore, for the former public protector to step back and allow legal and Constitutional processes to unfold unhindered,” reads a statement from the Presidency.
The statement also mentioned that the Presidency remains concerned, as well, about the leaking by Adv Madonsela to TV channel ENCA, of her discussion with the President. On 6 November, the TV channel aired an audio recording of an interview that Madonsela had with Zuma during the State of Capture investigation.
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According to Zuma’s office, Madonsela’s conduct has serious implications with regards to ethics, confidentiality and the protection of information gathered during investigations by the office of the public protector. “It is also not clear why Adv Madonsela decided to leak only the audio recordings of the discussion with the President, despite the fact that she had interviewed several witnesses,” reads the Presidency’s statement. Madonsela has previously stated that she did not leak the audio, but released the record of the interview with Zuma to the public as evidence that the president was given a chance to respond to questions during the State capture investigations.
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On 10 November, Madonsela was a speaker at the Governance and Ethics conference where she indirectly slammed the president. She mentioned that she is convinced that she made the right ethical decision by releasing the audio interview that she had with Zuma. “Only the PP has [the] right to decide. There is nothing that tells the PP that you may not give out this, and this you may give out,” she said.
“I truly believe it was two rights – the right to keep some things confidential but also the right to tell the truth and let the nation decide. I had a choice to issue a media statement to say ‘this person is lying’ but again, there are also ethics about calling people liars.”
The Presidency urges all parties to act as guided by the Constitution and respect the processes that are unfolding in respect of the report.
