Pretoria – Government’s security cluster has welcomed this afternoon’s decision by the North Gauteng High Court to grant the state a hearing on its application for a deadline extension for comment on the Public Protector’s interim report covering the upgrades at the President’s residence in Nkandla.
This comes after Public Protector Thuli Madonsela wrapped up her provisional report on the upgrades at the President’s private residence.
An urgent application by the cluster to prevent Madonsela from releasing the report into President’s residence was postponed in the North Gauteng High Court until next Friday.
“The security cluster respects the office of the Public Protector; equally the cluster recognises the need for all the concerned government departments to properly and sufficiently engage with the interim report in order to ensure a balance between transparency and accountability in the interest of the public and the security and legislative protocols that are applicable to locations designated as National Key points as covered by the National Key Points Act of 2010,” said a statement released by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS).
The statement said the decision to refer the matter to court followed a series of unsuccessful attempts by the security cluster to obtain from the office of the Public Protector a reasonable extension to provide comments on the interim report.
The investigation by Madonsela was carried over a period of about a year covering a wide scope of legislative and security issues that may not be adequately covered for comment over a few days, the statement read. – SAnews.gov.za
