Gwede Mantashe says he will seek a judicial review of the state capture corruption report as he pushes back against pressure for him to resign as mineral resources & energy minister.
Mantashe’s statement to reporters on Wednesday came a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office published the latest batch of the report detailing how facilities management firm Bosasa bribed senior government and ANC officials in exchange for lucrative tenders.
Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo, who headed the state capture inquiry, recommended including Mantashe among those to be investigated further.
But Mantashe, who is also ANC chair, said the report contains “technical mistakes” that require judicial review for correction.
This development comes as pressure mounts for the ANC to hold to account members named by the inquiry as having played a role in state capture, which weakened key state institutions and plundered state coffers.
Awkward
“The commission says there is no prima facie case,” said Mantashe. Until the judicial review process is completed and the ANC asks him to step aside, he will remain in his government and party leadership positions, he said.
The findings against Mantashe put Ramaphosa in an awkward position as failure to act against a member of his executive risks undermining his pledge to crack down on the corruption that became endemic during predecessor Jacob Zuma’s nine years in power.
Ramaphosa may also be reluctant to act against Mantashe, a top-six leader in the ANC, ahead of the internal leadership contest in December.
Legal team
Mantashe was secretary-general of the ANC when Bosasa was giving the party substantial financial support. He testified before the commission four times, but his characterisation of the ANC as a mere “NGO” did not withstand Zondo’s assertion that the party boasts a parliamentary majority “with the levers of legislative and executive power at its disposal”.
In all three volumes of the commission’s report, which were released in tranches since January, it was said that the ANC, including Zuma, played a central role in state capture.
In a statement on Tuesday, Zuma said he would be consulting his legal team about Zondo’s damning findings against him.
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