President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally responded to the 31 questions from suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane about the Phala Phala farm robbery after missing the deadline which was set for Monday 18 July.
Vincent Magwenya, the president’s spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the president had sent a written response to the public protector’s office on Friday morning. This comes after the acting public protector Kholeka Gcaleka planned to subpoena the president to respond to the Phala Phala farm questions.
Magwenya said it was unnecessary to attempt to force a response from the president as he was always willing to comply but had been delayed by his busy schedule. He said the president has been busy, but efforts were made to communicate with the Chapter 9 Institution.
“The threat of subpoena was unnecessary, in our view, the president’s legal team was in communication with the office of the public protector. There was an attempt for a meeting to explain the reasoning behind the request for an extension, that meeting, unfortunately, did nit occur, however, I can tell you now that the responses to the public protector have been delivered and have been received by the office of the public protector.”
Ramaphosa had missed two deadlines to respond to the questions that were posed to him and had asked for another extension, but the acting public protector Gcaleka rejected the extension. The president still did not respond on time which led to the plans to subpoena him.
Source: News24, SABC News, Eyewitness News, IOL, image from Twitter