The Public Works Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that Minister Thulas Nxesi had handed over the classified Nkandla report to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.
The ministry also confirmed that it was Nxesi who classified the report as top secret on the advice of the task team that wrote it.
The ministry’s Philip Masilio said Nxesi met with Madonsela on Tuesday morning.
“The public protector had requested the minister to provide her with the Nkandla report and the minister made the report available to her.”
But he said this did not mean the report was now declassified and it still would not be made available to the public.
On Monday, DA Parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko questioned the constitutionality of the decision to keep the document under wraps.
“Nobody has the authority to classify anything. There is no law or statute in the books that enables any minister of state to classify a tender document. No task team of government, no minister, not even the President can simply put a stamp on a document and call it classified. It is legally invalid.”
The Department of Public Works is expected to explain why the document was classified.
In 2012, Nxesi commissioned a task team from the justice and security cluster to investigate claims of irregularities in the use of public funds.
The report investigated how more than R200 million was spent on President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla home.
Government’s decision to classify the report was made in June.
Meanwhile, Zuma maintains he has done nothing wrong...
- EWN
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