The Presidency should release the final reports of the Khampepe and Jali commissions of inquiry, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.
”Evidence is growing that the Presidency is being selective about which reports it deems fit for public discussion. It would appear that reports that damage the government’s record or reveal fissures in the ruling party are suppressed,” party leader Tony Leon said.
He said President Thabo Mbeki was ”embarrassed” to release the final reports because the interim reports of the Jali commission revealed ”massive” corruption in prisons and pointed to the government’s failure to deal effectively with it.
”One can only assume that the failure to release the final report stems from the Presidency’s embarrassment over the state of our prisons.
”The Jali Commission of Inquiry into corruption and maladministration in South Africa’s prison service was concluded seven months ago but the final report is yet to see the light of day,” Leon said in a media statement.
Leon said the president was reluctant to release the final report of the Khampepe commission on the Scorpions because it ”reveals salacious details of the faction fighting and turf wars within the Cabinet and the top brass of the ANC”.
He said the Khampepe report was handed to the president last month and was ”being kept under wraps”.
The public had a right to scrutinise information in the two reports, ”no matter how harmful it is to the government and the ruling party”.
”If the president has decided to withhold the reports, then he would have undermined his own exhortation made on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Constitution this year, to honour the Constitution’s principles, including those of accountability and transparency.”
Leon said he wrote to the president on Friday requesting him to release the two reports to the public without delay.
Spokesperson for the Presidency Mukoni Ratshitanga said he still had to read the letter.
”If they have written a formal letter to the president, then the president will respond formally,” he said.
”If necessary, we will make a public pronouncement.” – Sapa