Public Protector report: Mkhwebane skirts Ramaphosa-Bosasa probe

Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, on Friday, held a press briefing on the outcomes of her office’s investigations and, surprise, surprise, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s probe into his controversial Bosasa donation was avoided.

What is Mkhwebane’s probe into Ramaphosa founded on?

DA leader, Mmusi Maimane was the one who brought this matter to Mkhwebane. During a National Assembly question-and-answer session, in November 2018, the DA leader probed the president on the nature of the donation he had received from Gavin Watson’s personal account.

Watson is the CEO of Bosasa (currently operating as African Global Operations), the facilities management company meddled in the state capture inquiry as a key player in the looting of state funds.

When asked about this in Parliament, Ramaphosa had scoffed the payment off as a payment to Andile for consulting services rendered.

However, he would later trackback this statement in a written submission to Baleka Mbete, the former Speaker of the National Assembly, stating that he had no idea where the money came from, which was essentially the nature of his conduct with donations received for political campaigns.

Why did Mkhwebane avoid mentioning the Bosasa probe?

After much delay, due to “other pressing matters of State”, Ramaphosa finally submitted his response, which the Presidency said holds “various confirmatory affidavits and supporting documents which, in [Ramaphosa’s] view, will enable this matter to be brought to conclusion as speedily as possible.”

The contents of this anticipated response were to form part of the Public Protector’s overarching report on the president.

Like the other investigations, it was expected that the Public Protector would deliver the outcomes of the Bosasa probe.

However, disappointingly, Mkhwebane failed to make any mention of it.

The main focus of her address was largely on the various amount of complaints that were received about Sars.

When asked about it by journalists, Mkhwebane stated that currently, the president is awaiting responses to questions sent to Bosasa CEO, Gavin Watson.

Once these have been received, she said, she would be able to continue with her work. Until then, there is not much movement that can be expected from her office.