President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed individuals who were implicated in the state capture commission of inquiry report as ministers and deputy ministers because they took the report on judicial review.
This is according to his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, who made the comments in an interview with SAfm on Wednesday 30 July.
Recently, former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo , who chaired the commission, shared the pain of swearing in individuals against whom he had made findings.
Among them were former Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe , and Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo.
"It was like the President was saying, 'I don't care what you have found about these people. I think they are good enough to be promoted,' Zondo said, per Sunday Times .
"The recommendations that were made were based on evidence that was led transparently, when the whole nation was watching. We are defending the report because we believe it is sound. But yes, I had to swear them in, remembering what I found against them.
Presidency on state capture-accused ministersMagwenya said implicated individuals have rights accorded to them in terms of due process.
What they've done, correctly so, is to exercise those rights by taking the report on review, and until such time those matters are concluded, the President could not take any punitive action against them, he added.
Not appointing them as ministers when they qualify to be appointed as ministers on the basis of being implicated in the Zondo commission report would have been punitive."
Ramaphosa would have acted unfairly in not considering them for appointment because he has to wait until the review applications are finalised or until the individuals are formally charged, Magwenya added.