Pretoria – Ministers of the security cluster and the Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, have met with Public Protector Thuli Madonsela following a report in the Mail & Guardian on the alleged leak of a purported provisional report on the Nkandla project.
Advocate Madonsela said last week she would review the 28-page submission government had made with regard to her report on security upgrades at the President’s residence. She said this would be done with a view to assess the reasonability of the security concerns and where considered reasonable, alter the report.
She said she would invite the ministers in the security cluster to nominate security experts from within government to discuss the contended issues. If there were still unresolved issues, she would discuss this with selected independent security experts.
Thereafter, she would share the report with respondents, complainants and implicated parties for comments within 10 working days.
In the meeting today, Madonsela committed herself to following the proper process of handling such reports.
The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) said in a statement on Friday that the security cluster wished to reiterate the integrity of government’s own investigation into the Nkandla security upgrades.
This investigation established, among other things, that no State funds had been spent on improving President Jacob Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla.
“Government maintains its view that while the security upgrades were justified, the manner in which the Department of Public Works handled the matter was inappropriate,” said the statement.
The government investigation found there had been a number of irregularities in the appointment of service providers and the procurement of goods and services. – SAnews.gov.za
