State Capture Report: Democracy in Action Urgently Asks Court Not To Hand First Part to Ramaphosa
- Democracy in Action submitted an urgent appeal to prevent President Ramaphosa from receiving the State Capture Report
- The NGO expressed their concern towards those witnesses who are named as implicating the president in the report
- Democracy in Action would prefer deputy president David Mabuza to receive the report instead of Ramaphosa
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JOHANNESBURG - An NGO called Democracy in Action submitted an urgent appeal to the Johannesburg High Court to stop the first section of the State Capture Report from being handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa tomorrow (4 January).
Democracy in Action expressed their concern towards those witnesses who are named as implicating the president in the report, especially once he reads it. On 4 January Ramaphosa is expected to receive the first part of the three-part report and release it to the public shortly afterwards.
According to TimesLIVE, the NGO would prefer David Mabuza, the deputy president, to receive the report instead of his superior, as Ramaphosa was the deputy president during the period which the report investigated, which presents a conflict of interest.
Source: Getty Images
Democracy in Action's reasons for changing the report's recipient
Thabo Mtshweni, the chairperson of the NGO, said that the president must name someone to who he will delegate the receipt of the report, IOL reports. The same is true for the second and third parts of the report, which will be submitted in February and March respectively.
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“We have written numerous letters to the commission, with the most recent one on December 20, to no avail from the commission about the legal permissibility of handing over of the report to the president, because in our view he is conflicted and was also implicated by some witnesses during the inquiry,” Mtshweni said.
Mtshweni added that besides Ramaphosa's position as deputy president in the period report, he was also a Glencore shareholder, which is one of the companies that were contracted by Eskom and are implicated in corruption as set out in the report.
Reactions to the NGO's appeal to the court
@TheDefector_ enquired:
"But why wait until today to make an "urgent" application when the whole world knew since last year that the first part of the report is due tomorrow, as with parts 2 and 3 later this month and Feb? Court must dismiss this for lack of urgency or rather self-created urgency."
@MR_KgaphzAubrey believes:
"It will be dismissed with costs."
@krapulana remarked:
"This is not urgent. If it was, they would have interdicted last year."
@JustDemulcent said:
"I can guess which senior counsel is involved in this frivolous application with 99.999% certainty."
@bthsmart shared:
"Those who implicated him lack credibility. They are crooks who implicated themselves and aligned to the gangster politicians behind State Capture. This is time-wasting. Let's get the report out now. I do think it must simultaneously go to @NPA_Prosecutes though."
Holomisa and Maimane want state capture report handed over to Parliament live
In other news about the State Capture Report, Briefly News previously reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa has been granted permission by Gauteng High Court to take four months to sit and assess the State Capture report before handing it over to Parliament.
Opposition leaders think that should not be allowed. United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa stated on social media that the report being handed over to Ramaphosa before Parliament is not a good idea because the president was one of the witnesses at the Zondo Commission.
Holomisa went on to suggest that for the sake of transparency, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo should rather hand the report over to Parliament on live television.
Source: Briefly News
