Opposition parties ask court to order Zuma to appoint commission into state capture
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) and Congress of the People (Cope) has asked a full bench of judges in the High Court in Pretoria for an order in which the president is compelled to implement the public protector’s remedial action as indicated in the State of Capture report.
Advocate Dali Mpofu SC‚ for the UDM and Cope‚ who submitted heads of arguments together with the EFF‚ relayed a draft order to the court in which it asks that the remedial action be declared binding.
President Jacob Zuma brought a review application to have the public protector’s remedial action reviewed and set aside. In her report‚ former public protector Thuli Madonsela ordered Zuma to establish a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture‚ for which Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng must select a judge to head the inquiry.
The public protector decided on the remedial action as she did not have the resources to complete the investigations herself. She wanted Mogoeng to appoint the judge out of fear for a conflict of interests in the investigation if Zuma appointed the judge.
Zuma’s son Duduzane and the Gupta family are at the heart of the allegations of state capture.
Mpofu also asked the court to find that the president’s failure to comply with the remedial action be declared inconsistent with the Constitution.
The draft order further states that the order must be delivered to the chief justice within five days‚ and that the president must appoint the judicial commission of inquiry within 15 days of the order. If the draft order is granted‚ Mogoeng would have five days to provide one name to the president of a judge he should appoint within five days of receiving the order.
The parties also want the court to give the commission powers of evidence collection no less than that of the public protector.
Advocate Steven Budlender for the DA‚ which also opposes the review application‚ said it was not unusual for the public protector to direct senior government officials to exercise their executive powers‚ as this had happened in the past. He said the only unusual thing was that the president himself was involved in the matter.