We want answers to the 31 Phala Phala questions. This is the call that has been made by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) to acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka.
WE WANT answers to the 31 Phala Phala questions. This is the call that has been made by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) to acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka.
In June, suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane asked President Cyril Ramaphosa 31 questions on the Farmgate scandal which have yet to be answered.
Since then, Ramaphosa has been found to have “a case to answer” on the topic of those 31 questions by a parliamentary independent panel chaired by former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo.
“But his answers remain hidden from the public eye by the public protector’s office,” said the institute.
Ramaphosa had answered the questions 140 days ago. He was instructed by the Office of the Acting Public Protector to keep these answers hidden from the public eye, according to the IRR.
He was told that if the public knew his answers to the questions, this could “jeopardise” the investigation into Phala Phala.
However, Mkhwebane submitted that the answers must be published.
In addition, Ramaphosa submitted that he had “no objection” to the answers going public, a point that his legal team repeatedly pointed out. “It is the Acting Public Protector’s Office and nothing else that is keeping those answers away from the public,” argued the institute.
The IRR also pointed out that the public interest in revealing those answers had radically increased and that members of Parliament must be able to look at those answers to see if they corroborate or deviate from later versions of events that Ramaphosa has produced.
“MPs must also be allowed to scrutinise the details they contain in making up their minds about whether to proceed in holding Ramaphosa to account under Section 89 of the Constitution, which pertains to impeachment, arguably the most serious oversight function of Parliament,” it said.
The institute said that details cannot be withheld from the nation’s democratic representatives as they prepare to make the fateful choice to go forward with Section 89 proceedings or not.
“Advocate Gcaleka has been requested to protect the public by sharing the 31 answers by no later than noon on Monday, December 12, so that MPs may be saved from having to exercise their highest duty of accountability blind in one eye,” added the IRR.
