President Cyril Ramaphosa has reportedly filed an urgent court application against the Public Protector.
He wants the court to declare that he had complied with remedial actions set out by Busisiwe Mkhwebane as she had directed in her recently released report into the pension payout of Ivan Pillay, the Mail&Guardian reports.
Mkhwebane, in her report, found that an early pension payment made to Pillay, when Pravin Gordhan was finance minister, was irregular.
Mail&Guardian reported that in his affidavit, Ramaphosa claims he had complied with Mkhwebane's orders.
The publication adds that the president says since the nature and timing of the disciplinary action was left to his discretion, the appropriate course was to await the outcome of the court case brought by Gordhan against Mkhwebane.
Last Wednesday Gordhan filed court papers in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in an urgent bid to interdict Mkhwebane's remedial actions surrounding the so-called "rogue unit".
Pillay followed suit and filed an affidavit stating that he intends to pursue a review of findings against him in a Public Protector's report he says detrimentally affects him.
The publication further reported that Ramaphosa said in the papers that he had informed Mkhwebane of an implementation plan as she had directed him to provide to her.
"I accept the binding nature of the Public Protector’s reports and remedial actions. I accept that the Report is under review but that this does not stay the implementation of the remedial action, in the absence of a court order," the publication quoted Ramaphosa.
The presidency could not be reached for comment by News24 at time of publication.
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