NKANDLA COMMITTEE TO SEEK EXTENSION

CAPE TOWN - Parliament's ad-hoc committee on the Nkandla spending scandal will only consider its draft report next week.

The committee might also ask for more time to complete its final report and recommendations to the National Assembly.

The committee met briefly on Thursday, where it emerged that the draft report was not yet ready.

The six African National Congress (ANC) Members of Parliament (MPs) left on the committee were told the provisional document was not ready.

Opposition MPs staged a walkout two weeks ago.

Officials compiling the report are waiting for transcripts of previous committee meetings.

Ad-hoc committee chairperson Cedric Frolic says he'll talk to ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani about an extension to the committee's 24 October deadline.

The body also decided a complaint against Public Protector Thuli Madonsela be referred to Parliament's Justice Committee.

The complaint comes from a group calling itself Concerned Lawyers and Educationists for Equality Before the Law.

They claim Madonsela’s Nkandla report is flawed and that she should be fired.

In her document released in March, the protector said President Jacob Zuma and his family improperly benefitted from the R246 million upgrades, which included a cattle enclosure and amphitheatre.

Madonsela found that Zuma should pay back some of the costs for unnecessary renovations.

Earlier, a group calling itself the Public Members’ Unit Team offered to pay back money on behalf of Zuma for upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.

This is if it is found the president owes money for upgrades to his private KwaZulu-Natal homestead.

- EWN