Acting public protector Kholeka Gcaleka has instructed President Cyril Ramaphosa not to disclose to anyone, including the high court, contents of his response to the 31 questions her office asked about the Phala Phala farmgate saga.
Gcaleka feared leakage of such information to the media could compromise and jeopardise the investigation.
This was revealed by the state attorney, representing Ramaphosa, in an affidavit filed in the Western Cape High Court, which states that Ramaphosa would no longer provide his responses to the court as part of his responding affidavit to part B of suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fight against her suspension and impeachment proceedings by parliament.
We want to take precautions to avoid any leakage of such documents to the media, thereby compromising and jeopardising the investigation.
— E-mail from public protector’s office
The matter was scheduled for hearing on Monday and Tuesday.
Ramaphosa had said he would make his responses to the office of the public protector about the Phala Phala investigation available to the court once they had been filed.
But according to an affidavit by assistant state attorney Mark Neville Owen on behalf of Ramaphosa, signed July 23, Gcaleka wrote to Ramaphosa’s lawyers saying the president’s response should only be sent to her office and no-one else.
He said Ramaphosa had intended to place his response to Gcaleka before the court.
“However, when this issue was raised with the president’s private attorneys shortly after the president’s response in the Phala Phala investigation was filed on July 22 2022, I was informed of an e-mail that the office of the public protector had sent to the president’s attorneys in the Phala Phala investigation.”
Owen explained that Ramaphosa is represented in the Phala Phala investigation by private attorneys and different counsel at his own cost and not by the state attorney.
He quoted the e-mail from the public protector’s office to Ramaphosa’s private attorneys, dated July 4, which reads: “Please ensure that when the response from the presidency is ready is [sic] e-mailed only to us and copied here and nobody else. Alternatively, you can call me to arrange for physical delivery to me at the public protector's head office.
“We want to take precautions to avoid any leakage of such documents to the media, thereby compromising and jeopardising the investigation,” reads the e-mail.
Owen said in light of this request, Ramaphosa has not made his response to the investigation available to the court.
“While the president has no objection to doing so (particularly in view of what was stated in his supplementary answering affidavit), he has no intention of ‘compromising and jeopardising the investigation’ which, according to the office of the public protector, will occur if the response is made public,” said Owen.
Ramaphosa will abide by the court's decision as to whether his response to the probe should be filed before court, he said.
Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane a day after she sent him 31 questions about the robbery at his Phala Phala farm. He then failed to meet a July 18 deadline to respond to the questions and his request for a further extension was refused by Gcaleka.
He eventually submitted his responses on Friday July 22.
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