JOHANNESBURG – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is fighting President Jacob Zuma’s court bid to take control of an urgent judicial inquiry into state capture.

She says Zuma’s legal application has little prospect of success.

President Jacob Zuma has gone to court to fight former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s order that Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng – and not him – determine which judge will lead the State Capture inquiry.

Mkhwebane says Zuma’s deeply implicated in allegations of state capture, which means he shouldn’t decide how the inquiry must operate.

The inquiry will probe allegations that Zuma’s friends, the Gupta family, and his son, Duduzane have been controlling the appointments of certain Ministers and illegally benefiting from lucrative state contracts.

Mkwebane doesn’t want the President’s court challenge to delay the establishment of an inquiry.

President Zuma has a different take on the matter. He said in May this year : “Let me place it on record that there is no opposition from either the government or the Presidency to the calls for the commission into the said State Capture. What has caused a delay is the manner in which the former Public Protector directed the inquiry should be done, which infringes on the powers of the President.”

Madonsela urged Zuma to allow Mogoeng to initiate the State Capture inquiry – and to seek legal clarity on his powers in a separate application that would not cause any further delays.

“The President has a fork here around does he put emphasis on the academic issue of what are his powers? Or does he put emphasis on the real issue here: that currently we have a dysfunctional state,” Madonsela told eNCA’s Karyn Maughan last month. She spoke to eNCA’s Jeremy Maggs.

eNCA