Johnathan Paoli
The Chairperson of the Section 194 Enquiry in the Public Protector’s fitness to hold office said Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has not indicated whether she will be making any final closing arguments pertaining to the allegations in the motion before the committee.
The Chairperson of the Committee Qubudile Dyantyi also said Mkhwebane has failed to meet any of the deadlines that are stipulated in the new path that the committee was forced to take so as to fulfill its constitutional mandate and finalise its work.
Following her failure to submit written notice to the committee secretariat indicating if she will make a closing statement and the format in which it will be made by Friday, 7 July; she subsequently also failed to respond to another opportunity the committee gave her.
Last week Mkhwebane also ignored the deadline to respond to written questions posed by committee members and evidence leaders. She was also due to notify the committee by Monday, 19 June 2023, whether she would be responding to questions in writing or orally.
Mkhwebane was granted another opportunity, until 22 June, to submit any additional affidavits or documentation in support of Part B of her statement or in relation to the evidence leaders’ presentation to the committee on Part A of her statement to the extent that there is a part that was not addressed in her oral evidence or written statement.
Dyantyi went on to emphasise that any further extensions would not be granted.
“We remain on 28 July as our deadline for the consideration of the draft report for its adoption. In fact, to the contrary, her continued non-response to questions and deadlines means that we may produce a report much sooner than initially planned because there would be no reason for the Chairperson not to direct evidence to do the summation earlier than planned or to convene a committee meeting earlier than 28 July if this is practical.”
The committee was established on 16 March 2021 to conduct a constitutional enquiry into the PP’s fitness to hold office and is expected to finalise its work on 28 July 2023.
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