Thuli unflinching

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is standing her ground in the face of a blistering attack by the ANC and is defending the independence of her office.

Madonsela has decried what she termed the ruling party's violation of the constitution by trying to interfere with her work.

Yesterday, she dropped another bombshell when she said it was a senior ANC leader, and not her office, who had leaked her letter to President Jacob Zuma last week.

The ANC dismissed the assertion as ''preposterous" and called on Madonsela to name the ''leaker''.

In her letter, Madonsela criticised Zuma for not having responded adequately to her report that he had "benefited unduly'' from the "security upgrades" at his private Nkandla home on which R246-million of taxpayers' money was spent. She gave him two weeks to explain why he should not pay back a portion of the money, spent on non-security features such as a chicken coop and swimming pool.

Zuma has denied wrongdoing and a ministerial team that investigated the upgrades found he had no role in authorising the spending.

The ANC and its alliance partner the SACP have accused Madonsela of carrying out an agenda to discredit the government.

Madonsela's spokesman, Kgalalelo Masibi, said yesterday the public protector "noted with deep concern the extraordinary and unwarranted attacks on her person and office".

She said Madonsela had been "advised confidentially" that a senior politician and member of the ANC had leaked the Zuma letter.

ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa dared Madonsela to name the person. "She must stop peddling rumours," he said.

Masibi said Madonsela disputed the ANC's claim that she was trying to "dictate" terms to parliament, saying she would have backed off had Zuma responded adequately to her report.

Nowhere in the letter had she asked the president to submit his comments to her, specifically saying he should comply with the law and report to parliament, Masibi said.

Zuma submitted a response to parliament earlier this month in which he appointed Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko to investigate his financial liability for any part of the upgrades to his Nkandla home.

Constitutional law experts backed Madonsela's demand that Zuma comply with her recommendation that he pay back a portion of the money spent.

Pierre de Vos, the University of Cape Town constitutional law professor, said Madonsela was within her legal rights to demand that Zuma comply.

"The president should actually be grateful that Madonsela wants to ensure that he does the right thing," he said.

Richard Calland, UCT associate professor in public law and spokesman for the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, warned that "a constitutional crisis could arise if, for example, parliament fails to do its constitutional duty and uphold the findings of the public protector and ensure that the recommendations are adhered to by the executive, including the president".

Additional reporting by Bloomberg