Lerato Mbhiza
Suspended Public Prosecutor Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been found guilty of incompetence and misconduct by the parliamentary ad hoc panel probing her eligibility to keep office.
The members of the Section 194 Committee convened on Sunday to continue working on its draft report regarding Mkhwebane’s fitness to serve.
Mkhwebane was found guilty of misconduct by the committee for disregarding several court decisions and victimising officials throughout her term as the director of the Chapter 9 institution.
The process is expected to be completed by August, as Mkhwebane’s non-renewable seven-year term ends in October.
After that, the committee will draw up its final report for tabling in the National Assembly for determination. Two-thirds of the National Assembly must support the report for adoption.
“We will provide the PP with a final audit before adopting a final report that will be sent to the National Assembly,” said the committee’s chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi.
So far, Mkhwebane has missed three deadlines to respond to written questions sent to her by committee members and the evidence leaders, advocates Nazreen Bawa and Ncumisa Mayosi.
Last week, Dyantyi rejected Mkhwebane’s second application for his recusal.
This comes amid claims that Dyantyi, ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina and the late Tina Joemat-Pettersson attempted to solicit bribes from her husband Mandla Skosana to influence the outcome of the inquiry.
Dyantyi said the committee had found that evidence presented to it for more than a year sustained the charges of misconduct and incompetence “in some respects”.
He added that “we will provide the PP with a final audit before adopting the final report that will be sent to the National Assembly”.
The independent panel, led by retired Constitutional Court judge Bess Nkabinde together with advocates Dumisa Ntsebeza and Johan de Waal, was unequivocal in its findings that there was prima facie evidence to support the charges and to challenge Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.
So far, Mkhwebane has missed three deadlines to respond to written questions sent to her by committee members and the evidence leaders, advocates Nazreen Bawa and Ncumisa Mayosi.
The committee also dealt with the charge relating to whether Adv Mkhwebane incurred fruitless and wasteful and/or unauthorised public expenditure in legal costs and it deliberated on aspects related to the ballooning costs of litigation and the auditing of the PPSA recognizing that it had achieved a clean audit under Adv Mkhwebane.
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