Parliament’s Justice Committee has agreed to refer Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s suitability to hold office motion to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise who is expected to refer the matter to the rules committee.
The Justice Committee will also discuss the request from Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip John Steenhuisen that the National Assembly set in motion a parliamentary process to remove her.
Modise has acceded to the DA’s request for the inquiry, giving members the go-ahead to proceed.
According to National Assembly rules, a resolution for the removal of the Public Protector must be adopted with a supporting vote of at least two-thirds of MPs in the House.
The Public Protector will be afforded an opportunity to make representations.
Tuesday’s move, however, is only the beginning of what could be a lengthy and tedious process that will ultimately pass judgment on Mkhwebane’s competency to hold office.
Justice committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe told the committee that he would have a letter sent to the Speaker by the end of Tuesday and would also alert her to the urgency of the matter.
The EFF, who has backed Mkhwebane publicly and in the courts, was absent from the justice committee Tuesday morning.
The Public Protector matter was initially set down for next week, but on Monday the committee released a statement confirming that the matter had been brought forward.
Last week, Modise herself said she wanted the matter dealt with as a matter of urgency. Addressing a programming committee meet last week, she reportedly made clear that she did not appreciate Mkhwebane’s tone in relation to Parliament.
This followed reports on a scathing 12-page letter that the Public Protector had written to Modise in July. In the letter Mkhwebane rebuked the Speaker for repeatedly failing to “protect” her on numerous occasions in the National Assembly when, she claimed, members of Parliament “cast aspersions on her without a substantive motion.”
Mkhwebane threatened to take Modise’s “unwillingness” to assist her to the courts to seek a declaratory order and interdict to force her to protect the office of the Public Protector, City Press reported.
How did it get here?
In July the Constitutional Court stopped short of calling Mkhwebane a liar when it found that her “entire model was flawed and that she was not honest about her engagements during her investigation” relating to the Reserve Bank/Absa matter.
She has also locked horns with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Mkhwebane found that Ramaphosa misled Parliament and referred her report on his internal campaign funding to the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate possible money laundering.
Ramaphosa labelled Mkhwebane’s findings as, “irretrievably flawed.”
On Gordhan, Mkhwebane’s probe centred on his alleged role in the establishment of the so-called ‘rogue unit’ during his tenure as SARS Commissioner. She directed Ramaphosa to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against Gordhan within 30 days of the release of the report.
Both Ramaphosa and Gordhan have taken her reports to the courts for judicial review.
The matter has become a political football with the EFF and some senior ANC members publicly rallying behind the Public Protector.
