State capture report must be published by 5pm, court orders

The Public Protector’s state capture report must be released before 5pm today, the High Court in Pretoria ordered on Wednesday.

This followed the dramatic U-turn by President Jacob Zuma earlier, when he withdrew his application for an interdict to prevent the release of the report.

The report was the result of an investigation by former public protector Thuli Madonsela into whether there was an inappropriate relationship between the president, other state officials and the Gupta family.

Zuma, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen and Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane were implicated in the investigation.

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo read out an order that had been agreed to by all the parties: the report was to be published and put up on the Public Protector’s website before 5pm.

The court also made a punitive costs order against the president, but reserved judgment on whether this should be paid personally out of the president’s own pocket.

The order was met with cheers from the packed court room. Once the judges had left, cries of “amandla” came from the public gallery.

After a protracted battle on Tuesday, in which the president opposed all the intervention applications of opposition parties and former MP Vytjie Mentor, he capitulated totally on Wednesday, even tendering the costs.

However, the opposition parties wanted the court to order that he pay the costs out of his own pocket.