Cape Town - The report of the public works department's task team appointed to probe spending at President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead is to be tabled in Parliament soon.
National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu made this announcement at the start of proceedings in the House on Wednesday.
He told MPs he had received a letter in this regard from Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi.
"The minister has requested that as the residence has been declared a national key point, the report be considered with utmost sensitivity.
"He has also requested that the report, when tabled, be referred to an appropriate parliamentary mechanism [committee]."
Sisulu said the matter was receiving urgent attention.
The announcement was welcomed by Democratic Alliance MP Anchen Dreyer, who said it followed the DA's repeated calls for the full report to be tabled, scrutinised, and debated in Parliament.
However, this was not the end of the road. The DA would push for Nxesi to table the full, unexpurgated report, with no omissions or deletions.
When the report came before the relevant parliamentary committee, that committee had to be open and members of the public able to attend.
Nxesi should also undertake that action would be taken against all those implicated in any wrongdoing.
"So long as the spending of R206m on President Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla is concealed under the dark cloud of secrecy, Nkandla will forever remain a symbol of government corruption under the presidency of Mr Jacob Zuma," Dreyer said.
The task team was appointed in November last year after the costs of Zuma's residential complex caused an outcry. The matter was also raised in Parliament.
In January, Nxesi said government spent R206m on security upgrades and consultants for Nkandla.
The task team investigating the spending had found, among other things, irregularities in the appointment of the 15 service providers and consultants who worked on the project, he said.
- SAPA
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