Public protector cannot order remedial actions, says Zuma
The president says he has sole executive power to institute a commission of inquiry and cannot be dictated to on the matter
The former public protector made no conclusive findings in her State of Capture report, and was, therefore, not in a position to order any remedial actions, President Jacob Zuma argued on Tuesday. Advocate Ishmael Semenya, SC for the president, told a full bench of judges in the Pretoria High Court that remedy could not be given for an illness if it had not been diagnosed completely, and that the then public protector, therefore, could not give remedial actions on something that was not concluded. The remedial action was to cure the diagnosis, Semenya said, adding that then public protector, Thuli Madonsela, was compelled to make a finding but not make observations on the matter. It could not be that there is merely a prima facie case, Semenya said. "It cannot be that you make remedial actions on alleged suspicions or alleged conduct." The remedial action was therefore premature, Semenya argued.
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