President Jacob Zuma has withdrawn his application seeking to interdict the Public Protector from publishing an interim report pursuant to an investigation into complaints of improper and unethical conduct by the President and\/or officials of state organs due to the alleged inappropriate relationship with members of the Gupta family.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>In the interest of justice and speedy resolution of the matter, the President decided to withdraw his application,\u201d said the Presidency in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n President Zuma launched the application in the North Gauteng High Court.<\/p>\n The basis of the application, as originally contended, was that the President was not afforded a reasonable opportunity to provide meaningful input into the investigation and asked the court to be given an opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n The Presidency said President Zuma contended that he has a right to be provided with incriminating evidence before he answers the questions posed to him and that he is entitled to question witnesses, as determined by the Public Protector, which witnesses appeared before the Public Protector.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the application was launched, it was not clear whether the investigation was finalised. The Public Protector has since clarified that the report was signed and finalised by the former Public Protector on 14 October 2016,\u201d said the Presidency.<\/p>\n The Constitution provides that everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair.<\/p>\n The North Gauteng High Court earlier today ruled that the report should be released before 5pm on 2 November.<\/p>\n \u201cThe President will give consideration to the contents of the report in order to ascertain whether it should be a subject of a court challenge,\u201d said the Presidency.<\/p>\n