Tshwarelo Hunter Mogakane
Pretoria - State attorneys representing President Cyril Ramaphosa have filed an application in the Cape Town High Court asking that Ramaphosa’s responses to the public protector’s probe into the Phala Phala farmgate affair be prevented from leaking to the media.
The developments in the saga came to light after assistant state attorney Mark Neville Owen filed an affidavit on behalf of the president on Saturday, asking that the court allow Ramaphosa not to make his responses available to the court as previously promised.
The court expected Ramaphosa to furnish it with his responses in a Part B case involving suspended public protector advocate Busi Mkhwebane, in which she is challenging her suspension.
Owen’s affidavit followed an email from the public protector’s office instructing Ramaphosa’s private attorneys dealing with the Phala Phala probe not to disclose the contents of the president’s responses.
“Please ensure that when the response from the Presidency is ready, (it) is emailed only to us and copied here and (by) 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,” wrote PP investigator Vusi Dlamini.
In his affidavit to the court, Owen stated that Ramaphosa had intended to file the responses with the high court, but had to approach the court after the email surfaced.
“Mindful of what was stated in Part B answering affidavit, the president intended to place his response to the Acting Public Protector (advocate Kholeka Gcaleka) before the court in these proceedings. 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. I was informed of an email that the Office of the Public Protector has been sent to the president’s attorneys in the Phala Phala investigation.
“In light of this request from the Office of the Public Protector, the president has not made his response to the investigation available to court. While the president has no objection to do so, 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.
Owen clarified that the state attorney was not involved in Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala investigation as the president was using his private lawyers.
“I pause to draw the court’s attention to the fact that the president is represented in the Phala Phala investigation by different attorneys and different counsel. In the Phala Phala investigation, the president is represented by his private attorneys and at his own cost and not the State attorney.
“In view of (this), the president considers it prudent to place this information before court. The president will abide (by) the decision of this court as to whether his response to the Phala Phala investigation must be filed before court,” Owens told the Western Cape High Court.
Public Protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe confirmed they had received responses from everyone who has been approached to assist with the investigation into Phala Phala.
He said it was law that the details of their investigation not be made public.
“There is provision in the Public Protector Act for our work to be made public and that’s once the investigation has been concluded. The courts, particularly in Gamede v Public Protector, emphasised the importance of protecting the integrity of investigations.”
Pretoria News