Public Protector releases state capture report

JOHANNESBURG - The Public Protector's office has this afternoon finally released Thuli Madonsela's much-anticipated report into allegations of state capture.

The document is 355 pages long and is titled State of Capture.

In her report Madonsela makes several determinations, including that President Jacob Zuma appoint within 30 days a commission of inquiry headed by a judge solely selected by the Chief Justice.

Read the Public Protector's full 'State of Capture' report below:

State Capture Report 2016 by Primedia Broadcasting on Scribd

LISTEN: Thuli Madonsela on 'State of Capture' report

MAIN DETERMINATIONS

The Public Protector’s report into state capture says Zuma failed to investigate the claims made by Vytjie Mentor and Themba Maseko that the Gupta family may have known in advance that Des van Rooyen would become finance minister, and that mineral resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane probably broke the Constitution by helping the family land a mining deal.

She also recommended that the president ask Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to select a judge to chair a commission of inquiry that must report back within six months.

The report, titled ‘State of Capture’, says Madonsela believes that the current cooperative governance minister was at the Gupta home seven days in a row before he was appointed finance minister - and that if the Gupta family knew in advance about his appointment, it would have broken the executive ethics code.

It also says Zuma may have broken the Prevention of Corruption Act because he failed to have government investigate the claims by Mentor that she was offered the job of public enterprises minister.

The report goes on to investigate the conduct of Mosebenzi Zwane during a deal that saw him travelling to Switzerland while the Gupta family was negotiating the sale of the Optimum coal mine. It says his conduct appears to be irregular and that it may not be in line with the Constitution and the executive member’s ethics act.

That same deal also leads to the finding that, in light of an extensive financial analysis, it appears the sole purpose of awarding contracts to Tegeta was to fund the company.

The ‘State of Capture’ says the only entity which appears to have benefited from Eskom's actions was Tegeta, which is owned by the Gupta family.

The Pretoria High Court earlier today ordered the Public Protector to release the state capture report by no later than 5pm today.

This morning President Jacob Zuma abandoned his attempt to halt and postpone the release of the report.

On Tuesday the High Court in Pretoria ruled that four opposition parties and former African National Congress Member of Parliament Vytjie Mentor could intervene in Zuma's legal bid to interdict the release of the Public Protector's state capture report.

(Edited by Masechaba Sefularo)