President Cyril Ramaphosa has given his response to the 31 questions that were sent to him by the Office of the Public Protector regarding the burglary at his Phala Phala farm. This follows a subpoena threat by the Chapter Nine institution.
Ramaphosa was expected to comply with the request by Monday, having missed an earlier deadline in June, but failed to do so.
The President’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says it was unnecessary to attempt to force a response from the President as he was always willing to comply, but had been delayed by his busy schedule.
Magwenya was speaking on the sidelines of a state visit by Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara.
Ramaphosa has finally sent his answers to the office of the public protector after it threatened to invoke its powers of subpoena when he failed to meet the deadline.
He missed the first deadline to respond to questions in June and requested another extension until 22 July.
Magwenya, said the President has been busy, but efforts had been made to communicate with the Chapter Nine Institution.
“The threat of the subpoena was unnecessary; in our view, the President’s legal team was in communication with the office of the public protector. There was an attempt for a meeting to explain the reasoning behind the request for an extension, that meeting, unfortunately, did not occur, however, I can tell you now that the responses to the public protector have been delivered and have been received by the office of the public protector.”
Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office
Magwenya has also reiterated that President Cyril Ramaphosa has no intention of testifying at the parliamentary inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.
Some parliamentarians, as well as Mkhwebane’s legal council have called on Ramaphosa to give testimony regarding the basis of his decision to suspend Mkhwebane.
“We will wait until we are advised officially by the committee as to whether the President needs to appear before the Section 194 Inquiry or not. As things stand, we do not see any grounds for the President to appear. Remember this process was kicked off by the National Assembly, the President had to fulfill his constitutional obligation with respect to effecting a suspension once the National Assembly has started the process. As things stand we don’t see why the President has to appear, he did not make any allegations against Advocate Mkhwebane. All he did was to fulfill his side of the constitutional obligations.”
Mbeki’s criticism
Magwenya also responded to former President Thabo Mbeki’s criticism of the government in tackling high levels of unemployment, poverty, and inequality.
Mbeki says Ramaphosa and his cabinet still do not have a plan,100 days after promising a social compact to deal with the current crisis facing many South Africans.
The elderly statesman made the remarks on Thursday at the national memorial service for the late ANC deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte.
Former President Thabo Mbeki’s tribute to ANC Deputy-Secretary Jessie Duarte:
“With respect to the social compact, yes, there have been some delays, however, we will respectfully submit that it is not true that nothing has been done but we will admit that there have been some delays. I think it is important to qualify that the aim of the social compact was to ensure that the government along with social partners commit themselves to a set of measures that will drive the stimulation of our economy, now the absence of a social compact does not mean that work has been suspended, the work to improve our economy to drive economic growth to create jobs is a daily task.”
Included in the 31 questions Ramaphosa is required to answer by the Public Protector is whether he has declared his financial interests related to the Phala Phala farm to Parliament as required by the Executive Code of Ethics.
