THE High Court in Pretoria has set aside Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s report into the so-called South African Revenue Services (SARS) “rogue unit.”
Mkhwebane’s report said Pravin Gordhan breached section 209 of the Constitution by establishing the unit when he was SARS commissioner.
In a judgment on Monday, the full bench of the high court said the conclusion by Mkhwebane “is without foundation particularly as this conclusion is based on discredited reports and unsubstantiated facts”.
The judges said that the report was further wrong in law and was “a wholly irrational process, bereft of any sound legal or factual basis”.
The judgment also noted that Mkhwebane’s report “fails at every point”.
“Had the Public Protector undertaken a fair and credible investigation and considered the extensive body of evidence in an open-minded manner, the report may have been an opportunity to confirm the facts and the truth thereof.
“Instead, she allowed her important office to be used to try and resuscitate a long-dead fake news propaganda fiction,” the judgment reads.
The judges also said that the conclusion that Gordhan had misled Parliament when he could not remember a Gupta family member was “simply wrong”.
“The Public Protector’s bias against Mr Gordhan and Mr (Ivan) Pillay is manifest.
“Having regard to the manner in which the Public Protector simply dismissed out of hand and completely ignored and irrationally discarded hard facts and clear evidence, it is clear that she approached her investigation with a preconceived notion, determined to make adverse findings against Minister Gordhan and Mr Pillay, thereby promoting the false rogue unit narrative.”
The high court also said that there is no indication in the report that the Mkhwebane attempted to investigate the truth of the assertions against Pillay.
“She ignored the bulk of the evidence provided to her and only took into consideration allegations, however, discredited and untested, that she believed supports the continuation of the rogue unit narrative and dismissed or ignored everything that proved the lawfulness of the unit in question.”
The report was set aside with costs.
“The Public Protector and Advocate Mkhwebane are ordered, jointly and severally, to pay Minister Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan, Mr Visvanathan Pillay and Mr George Ngakane Virgil Magashula’s costs on the scale between attorney and client such costs to include the costs of two Counsel where so employed.
“It is further ordered that Advocate Mkhwebane shall pay such costs personally with her liability limited to 15% of those costs.”
(SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES)
