By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has obligations in the process that go beyond just assenting to the recommended list of the SABC’s 12 non-executive board members by parliament.
This according to his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya who briefed journalists on various issues on Wednesday.
“When the submission was made to the president, there were areas that required clarification.
“Before the president puts his signature to a bill or appointment it is important that he fully satisfies himself with the process that was undertaken and with the substantive issues, the constitutionality of the exercise, but more importantly the legality of the exercise,” Magwenya said.
In December, the president was given a list of people to be appointed to the SABC board, as required by law.
There was great urgency in Ramaphosa signing off on the board appointments because the public broadcaster has been without one for five months.
This means crucial decisions on the functioning of the SABC cannot be taken.
Last week, Parliament’s legal advisor, Andile Tetyana, who assessed the letter which Ramaphosa wrote to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on 9 March, said the president acted unlawfully.
According to Magwenya, Ramaphosa was duty bound to ensure all processes, which were undertaken, were conducted in accordance with “our constitutional prescripts”.
“There was nothing wrong on the part of the president in seeking clarification. There were objections that were received by the president and those were also sent to the minister’s office.
“It was also important for the president how those objections were treated. The scathing nature of the legal opinion is neither here nor there,” he said.
Thabo Bester Prison Break
Ramaphosa wants the culprits behind the Thabo Bester escape debacle to be held accountable for the actions.
Bester escaped from the maximum-security Mangaung Correctional Centre in May last year by faking his own death, and was only recaptured in Tanzania last week.
Private security company G4S runs the maximum prison facility in Bloemfontein in a public-private partnership with government.
Two people have since appeared in court in connection with the dramatic escape.
“The president feels that this is an incident that should not have happened, it does talk to some weaknesses within the system,” Magwenya said.
“Embarrassing as it is, what is encouraging is that we still have a system that is robust enough to respond to such cases and we have a system that can deliver results quickly as witnessed with the arrest that has been made and there will be accountability.
Magwenya says Ramaphosa is confident that people will be held accountable for the escape.
Gupta extradition
Ramaphosa says there is “no reason” for South Africa to issue a démarche to the UAE’s ambassador following the failed extradition of the Gupta brothers.
A démarche is an extreme diplomatic step for a country to express its displeasure with another country.
Magwenya said there “is no reason” to issue a démarche against the UAE ambassador as South Africa was using appropriate options to deal with the matter.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola announced that the UAE had refused a request by South Africa to extradite Rajesh and Atul Gupta to face money laundering and fraud charges.
Lamola said the Dubai Court of Appeal had made the decision on 13 February without South Africa being notified and that the country learned with “shock and dismay” last Thursday through its embassy in Abu Dhabi that the application had been denied.
The justice minister said the Gupta brothers appeared in court without South Africa being notified.
Magwenya said South Africa was currently using laws available in the UAE that will allow South Africa to file an appeal against the decision not to extradite the brothers.
He said: “What we would rather do is to focus on engaging the processes as they are available to us as well as using diplomatic channels to ensure that we do realise what we are seeking in this regard.