Public Protector Adv. Thuli Madonsela wishes to confirm that she conducted an inspection-in-loco at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home on Monday, 12 August 2013.
The inspection was part of the Public Protector's investigation into allegations of improper conduct regarding security upgrades at the property. The confirmation is in response to media enquiries that have been triggered by a statement attributed to government.
Ordinarily, the Public Protector would not reveal such specific details of a pending investigation in compliance with section 7(2) of the Public Protector Act 23 of 1994, which states that:
“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law, no person shall disclose to any other person the contents of any document in possession of a member of the office of the Public Protector or the record of any evidence given before the Public Protector, the Deputy Public Protector or a person contemplated in subsection (3) (b) during an investigation, unless the Public Protector determines otherwise.”
The Public Protector is therefore only confirming her visit to Nkandla on the basis that the matter is already in the public domain. The Public Protector is still waiting for a few bits of information to complete the investigation. Upon receipt of the outstanding information, the Public Protector will finalise her provisional report, which will only be shared with the parties involved with a view to soliciting their comments.
Once the comments have been received, the Public Protector will consider them and, to the extent possible, factor them into the final report, which will then be released to the public.
