Public Protector must not be second-guessed‚ Zuma’s lawyer says
The public protector cannot be second-guessed and President Jacob Zuma places “no reliance” on Police Minister Nathi Nhleko’s report into Nkandla‚ Zuma’s counsel‚ advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC‚ told the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. Gauntlett did not divert much from the settlement proposal Zuma made last week in a bid to “bring finality” to the Nkandla matter‚ in court on Tuesday.Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke asked Gauntlett what the court should do about Nhleko’s report and the report on Nkandla by Parliament’s ad hoc committee.Gauntlett replied and described the reports as “heat and dust”.Justice Moseneke persisted: “Do they have legal significance?”Gauntlett then referred to an earlier comment by Justice Edwin Cameron saying ministers could not be stopped from further investigations‚ but he added that this could not “trench on the public protector’s report”.Justice Moseneke then asked whether anyone could second guess the public protector.Gauntlett then replied: “Certainly not.”Gauntlett represented Zuma in the case brought by the Economic Freedom Fighters and others to compel the president to comply with the public protector’s report on Nkandla and “pay back the money” he and his family benefited from...
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