As a rule, we do not comment on whatever purports to be a provisional report of the Public Protector as those are not reports of the Public Protector. The Public Protector’s provisional reports are confidential. Publishing such reports is unethical and unlawful.
It violates section 7(2) of the Public Protector Act 23, 1994, which states that:
“No person shall disclose to any other person the contents of any document in the possession of a member of the office of the Public Protector or the record of any evidence given before the Public Protector, Deputy Public Protector or a person during an investigation, unless the Public Protector determines otherwise.”
