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Johannesburg – Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s statement that Parliament is deliberately withholding funds from her office are baseless, the ANC chief whip’s office said on Monday.
"We are taken aback by Advocate Madonsela’s allegation that Parliament is deliberately withholding funds to increase her budget to punish her for her investigation into Nkandla security upgrades," spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said in a statement.
He said Parliament’s Justice and Constitutional Services Portfolio Committee had decided that Parliament should first look at the cases various Chapter Nine institutions were dealing with, before entertaining requests for budget increases.
This was to make sure there was no duplication in their work.
Both the ANC and SACP said Madonsela had been wrong to describe the upgrades to President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla as luxurious, or serving to beautify or add comfort to the site. An entirely different picture had emerged during the Nkandla ad hoc committee’s visit to the site on July 22.
"All committee members were shocked during the visit to discover that the features previously described as luxury, opulent, comfortable and secure at Nkandla were in fact shoddy workmanship [and] poor quality. The standard as well as the scope of the features were grossly misrepresented," Mothapo said.
He called on Madonsela to let the committee finish its work before commenting on it.
She said last week she had hoped the committee would call her to question her about her report on Nkandla, entitled "Secure in Comfort". On Thursday, the ANC used its majority on the committee to vote against such a proposal.
