Cape Town – The acting public protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, remains confident that the court would not find bias in her office’s report that cleared President Cyril Ramaphosa of misusing state resources in the Phala Phala scandal.
“I am confident the court would not find us biased. I am not worried that any malice would be found in the manner in which this report has been investigated.”
“This report has been well thought out. I am confident that this is a matter in which the public protector would not be found to have been biased, or to have dealt with the matter in an unbecoming manner.
“The court might arrive at a different decision — that is really up to the court but we are confident that we have done the best we could in line with the law,” Gcaleka said during an interview on Newsroom Afrika.
The investigation focused on whether Ramaphosa violated the executive ethics code and abused state resources after a significant amount of money was stolen from his game farm in Limpopo in 2020.
The report stated that the allegation of abuse of power by the president was not substantiated.
However, opposition parties, including the EFF, DA, ATM, and ActionSA, are calling for the report to be reviewed and set aside, accusing Gcaleka of protecting Ramaphosa.
Gcaleka also clarified that the report did not clear Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing related to fraudulent claims about the sale of US dollars, as that fell under the purview of the criminal investigation by the Hawks.
“We have made no findings on those matters. The president has not been cleared on whether there was anything untoward in respect of this particular transaction,” she said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
