public protector cyril ramaphosa

Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Photo: Twitter/PublicProtector

Parly speaker moves to oust controversial public protector from office

If Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane thought 2019 was an exceptionally bad year, this one is not off to a very good start either.

public protector cyril ramaphosa

Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Photo: Twitter/PublicProtector

It’s official. National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise has approved a motion by DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone requesting that Parliament initiate proceedings for the removal of Mkhwebane from office for maladministration.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said on Friday 24 January that the motion would follow the new rules adopted by the national legislature late in 2019. 

“The new rules expand on the broad parameters in section 194 of the Constitution [which provides for the removal of heads of chapter 9 institutions] and previous National Assembly rules,” said Mothapo.

Mkhwebane: Multiple failures marking tenure

Mkhwebane, who took over the reins from Thuli Madonsela in 2016, has been accused of political meddling in high-profile cases by her office’s former chief of operations Basani Baloyi.

Ever since she stepped into Madonsela’s shoes, several of her reports were dealt blows in court, damaging her own pocket.

Absa-Bankorp

In 2018, Mkhwebane’s Absa-Bankorp report into 1980s bailout by the Reserve Bank of Bankorp, which was acquired by Absa in 1992, was challenged in court.

It emerged that Mkhwebane consulted with the State Security Agency and the presidency and did not reveal the meetings with the presidency in her final report.

According to the Constitutional Court, her explanations made “no sense” and “compounded the case against her”, ultimately slapping her with personal and punitive costs. The embattled public protector was ordered to pay 15% and her office a whopping 85% of the SA Reserve Bank’s legal costs in the matter.  

Estina report

Before that was the Pretoria High Court judgment on her Estina report on the Vrede dairy farm project, which found that the way she narrowed the scope of her investigation lacked “any logical or legitimate explanation”.

She was ordered by the Pretoria High Court to again personally pick up some of the legal costs for the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) application to have the report reviewed and set aside.

Prasa

In November 2019, civil society organisation #UniteBehind also submitted a review application to the North Gauteng High Court against Mkhwebane’s “whitewash” April report into corruption and maladministration at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa). 

Rogue unit and CR17

Mkhwebane’s “rogue unit” SARS report against Pravin Gordhan, as well as her investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, also did not end well for the public prosecutor.

With the rulings racking up against Mkhwebane, questions over her competence and integrity to hold the important office started surfacing — and Mazzone’s request to have her removed from her position, should come as no surprise to the public protector.