President Jacob Zuma’s decision to abandon his bid to have the Public Protector reinvestigate allegations into State capture was logical, his office said on Thursday.

In a statement, the presidency said Zuma was eagerly awaiting the outcome of his application in the high court in Pretoria to review the recommendations contained in former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on State capture.

“The President has stated in Parliament that he was awaiting the finalisation of the review application in order to establish a commission of inquiry, not through dictation,” Zuma’s office said.

“Given the President’s unequivocal undertaking to establish a commission of inquiry, it was a logical conclusion not to ask the Court to refer the matter back to the Public Protector for further investigation in the event that the President was successful.”

On Wednesday the court reserved judgment in the review application. Judgment would likely happen before the current court term ended.