JOHANNESBURG – The South African Communist Party has lambasted Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane after she called on President Jacob Zuma not to limit the state capture inquiry’s terms of reference to issues identified in her predecessor’s report.

READ: State capture inquiry: PP available to compile terms of reference

“Busisiwe Mkhwebane must desist from temptations to use the authority of the public protector to propagate populist and factional politics. Instead of being seen protecting the public, her actions reflect an embedded if not captured person using the authority of the public protector to advocate such sectarian politics with the potential effect of bringing the image of the office into disrepute.

“Mkhwebane’s utterances regarding the terms of reference of the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture are a latest case in point,” the SACP said in a statement released on Thursday.

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The state capture inquiry was established by Zuma on Tuesday, a year after the then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela released the report titled ‘The State of Capture’.

Zuma, his son, Duduzane Zuma and the Gupta family were fingured in the report.

Madonsela had recommended that the commission of inquiry complete its task and present the report to the president within 180 days.

eNCA