David van Rooyen.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen will also try and stop public protector Thuli Madonsela from releasing her draft report on her investigation into state capture following the interdict President Jacob Zuma sent to Madonsela earlier on Thursday.
The report was due to be released on Friday, Madonsela’s last day as public protector. The public protector’s office said they cannot release the report until the decision on whether the interdict will be granted or the application dismissed is made.
Van Rooyen’s application will be heard by the High Court in Pretoria on Friday, while Zuma’s will be heard on Tuesday. In his application, van Rooyen will challenge the public protector’s powers to make him answer certain questions pertaining to the report, according to News24.
Madonsela said last week that Zuma and his legal team spent the bulk of their four-hour meeting arguing that the case be deferred to Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who will take over as public protector when Madonsela vacates the post, on the grounds that there “wasn’t enough time to conclude the matter properly and that there was no reason for the investigation to be prioritised”.
Van Rooyen was appointed as finance minister last year after Zuma sacked former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene. Van Rooyen lasted four days in the post before he was replaced by Pravin Gordhan, who will on November 2 appear in court on fraud charges . – Additional reporting by News24