Speaker, a wedding of that magnitude at Sun City was not tossed together overnight. Every aspect of it was meticulously planned, like a military operation - from the flying in of the 200 plus guests to the VIP blue-light cavalcade to the venue, along with the President and his relatives who partner the Guptas in business ventures, and the invitations to many Cabinet members. Some Cabinet members attended, but most wisely developed "Gupta-itis", a flu-like symptom brought on by media heat.
The claim that members of the Cabinet didn't know is as flimsy and see- through as a bridal veil. In fact, the report is so transparent, it's invisible! It simply doesn't ring true, especially as the claim is made by a raft of their hand-picked directors-general.
If it were true, it would mean that, for example, the Minister of Police and his R2,7 billion Crime Intelligence Unit knew nothing about a foreign plane landing at an SA National Defence Force base carrying passengers unknown - not on official business or for an official government event - with the VIP cavalcade transporting said passengers and unknown crates. They could have been an entire terrorist contingent taking over the country! Ask Sars, which sat at home like Cinderella, unable to peek into the huge crates that were VIPed to the wedding!
The SANDF spokesperson called Waterkloof a national key point, and no one challenged him, because the Minister of Police won't release the list. Of course, we already know about Parliament, the airport, harbours, nuclear power stations, and the private home in Nkandla.
Dodging the stampede by Cabinet members - most of whom are absent from this debate today - to distance themselves from this debacle, the Minister of Police said he knew nothing of an operation of this magnitude. Charges were laid, but we hear today those cases against the 194 Police Service, Metro Police and VIP Unit members, 20 flying squad members, 40 counter assault members with armoured and special surveillance vehicles, and 296 private security members are falling apart. All role-players met in advance to identify their respective roles. Minutes are kept at these meetings, and an operational plan was drawn up accordingly. I trust those minutes weren't conveniently used as confetti! Fair enough. We accept deniability from the Minister of State Security, as he's the man who didn't notice his wife was a druglord. And we didn't expect to read a word about it in the Guptas' The New Age newspaper, but we did from the Minister of Police as a man on the guest list.
Bring on the scapegoats. They are trying everyone - the head of Protocol, an Air Force colonel and the Police - and everyone acted alone without permission from a single identifiable source!
However, it was confirmed for me by a senior ANC member that for every conceivable regulation in the book to have been flouted in the manner they were, they would have had to have been flouted on instruction from the very top. After that, all other Ministries and officials simply fell into line. Now, that, I believe. Police obey orders - when they are told to jump, they ask how high. And today we are branded as a nation that elected an entire Cabinet of empty suits.
The Auditor-General has agreed to my request to uncover how much this debacle has cost us in regard to reputation, as a sort of banana-republic abuse of public money that will lead us to being downgraded yet again, just as our reputation has been downgraded in the eyes of the rest of the world. Thank you. [Applause.]