The Cabinet’s unconditional endorsement of Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana’s report into the so-called Oilgate scandal comes as no surprise, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday.
”While it is critical that Chapter Nine institutions, such as the public protector, are protected and their purpose respected, when those institutions fail to uphold their constitutional mandate it is the duty of civil society and the opposition to identify and interrogate those failings.
”The public protector’s report into the Oilgate affair represents one of those instances,” DA spokesperson Hellen Zille said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet noted and accepted Mushwana’s report, released last week.
Briefing the media after the Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting, government communications head Joel Netshitenzhe said while the government has always understood that the allegations of improper conduct on the part of state officials were unfounded, ”we do appreciate that this matter, as it relates to government, has been laid to rest”.
The Cabinet respects the authority and integrity of the constitutional bodies set up to protect democracy, and hopes that ”the same principles will be observed by other institutions in our society”, Netshitenzhe said.
The African National Congress was reported by the Mail & Guardian to have been paid R11-million by empowerment company Imvume Management before last year’s elections.
The R11-million was alleged to have been from an advance payment of R15-million Imvume had received from PetroSA to procure oil from supplier Glencore, which Imvume allegedly never supplied.
In his report, Mushwana said the ANC and Imvume are not public entities, do not perform public functions and are not part of any level of the government.
It had also been alleged that Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (during her term as minister of minerals and energy) improperly influenced PetroSA’s decision to make the advance payment to Imvume.
Mushwana’s report stated such allegations made against Mlambo-Ngcuka were not substantiated and without merit.
Zille said on Thursday at the heart of the problem is the fact that still, about 80 days after this issue was first brought to the public’s attention, no one has been able to explain how R11-million of public money found its way from a parastatal into the ruling party’s election coffers.
”Further, there has to date been no credible explanation for what happened to the additional R4-million that was paid to Imvume as part of the R15-million advance from PetroSA,” she said.
The DA is still awaiting a response to its request for a meeting with National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli, to hand over a comprehensive list of all outstanding questions relating to the issue, all of which require investigation.
”Government’s assumption that this matter has now ‘been laid to rest’ could not be further from the truth,” Zille said. — Sapa