The president’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya “erred” when he told the Sunday Times in June that the Lady R report would not be made public, he said in an affidavit to court on Monday.
Magwenya’s affidavit was seeking to clarify “a potential confusion” created by a statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on oath in court papers, which contradicted what Magwenya had previously told the Sunday Times.
Ramaphosa’s answering affidavit was submitted in litigation about the investigation into the circumstances around the controversial docking of the Russian cargo ship in Simon’s Town in December.
In August, the investigation found there was no evidence to support an allegation that weaponry or ammunition was loaded onto the cargo ship. Its report was not released publicly due to national security concerns, but an executive summary was given by the president. The DA has not challenged the outcome of the report but has challenged the lawfulness of the investigation being headed by a retired judge, saying this breached the separation of powers.
In his answering affidavit, filed last month, Ramaphosa said his decision that the panel’s full report would not be made public was “not one that I reached in advance of receipt of the report”.
“It was deliberately based on the content of the report, which would create a threat to national security if disclosed to members of the public,” said Ramaphosa.
Further on in the affidavit, he referred specifically to what Magwenya had told the media: “Mr Magwenya stated that the president would decide whether or not the report would be made public once he received it.”
Yet in June, Magwenya told the Sunday Times — long before the report was finalised — in response to questions that: “The work of the panel will not be public, nor will its report be made public.”
The Sunday Times reported Magwenya’s response to its questions on page 1 under the headline: “Lady R probe report ‘will be kept secret’”. The Presidency did not seek to correct the report at any stage after its publication.
In his affidavit, filed in court on Monday, Magwenya said: “The president had not communicated any such decision to me at the time of my statement to the media.”
He said when Ramaphosa’s affidavit was prepared, he was “under the impression” that he had told the media that Ramaphosa had not yet taken a decision on whether he would make the report public.
“A report quoting me in the Sunday Times newspaper ... has since been brought to my attention,” he said. Having reread the article, “I now accept that I did say to the journalist that the report would not be made public. That statement was obviously erroneous.”
Magwenya said his statement to the Sunday Times was “made in ... anticipation of national security concerns arising, but I acknowledge that I erred in communicating that a decision based on these concerns had already been taken at that stage”.
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