Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool has blamed ”overeager” members of his own party for a report that President Thabo Mbeki has intervened to defuse a row over Rasool himself.
Rasool, a member of the African National Congress (ANC), was accused in an official report finalised last week of knowingly making incorrect statements to the legislature.
The Cape Argus reported on Tuesday that Mbeki had stepped into the row, urging Rasool to shelve plans to challenge the finding in court.
The newspaper said he also told members of the ad hoc provincial committee that compiled the report to sort out the matter speedily and not drag the ANC and Rasool’s names through the mud.
Responding to the report, Rasool spokesperson Shado Twala said in a statement: ”We are not in a position to confirm or deny that President Thabo Mbeki has intervened in the matter of the ad hoc committee’s report.
”It is highly unlikely that the president would intervene in ways which would undermine the workings of constitutional structures like the provincial legislature.”
Twala told the South African Press Association the phrase ”not in a position to” meant that the premier did not know whether Mbeki intervened.
She said in the statement that in all Rasool’s consultations with the ANC, the matter of being fired has not come up — ”either the threat of being fired or the guarantee of not being fired”.
”The premier is concerned, however, that consultation with his own organisation has allowed some overeager people to take the matter to the media,” she said.
She said Rasool was studying the report to see whether it did accuse him of misleading the legislature, and whether it had factored in key elements of the evidence he provided.
”Whether the premier opts for a legal review in the Cape High Court or a political solution will be based on what is best for the people of the Western Cape and the integrity of the office of the premier, the Auditor General’s office and the Western Cape legislature.”
The report dealt with statements by Rasool on overspending on security measures at the home of provincial minister of community safety Leonard Ramatlakane. — Sapa