PHUTI MOSOMANE
The Constitutional Court has found no grounds for the exclusive jurisdiction and direct access application brought by suspended Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
The court dismissed the application without requiring Adv Mkhwebane to cover any costs.
Mkhwebane filed the application urgently, seeking various outcomes, including a declaration that the Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the Chairperson of the Section 194 Committee, Qubudile Dyantyi, were in violation of a previous Constitutional Court order from February 2022.
The application also aimed to review and overturn Dyantyi’s decision to continue the inquiry beyond 31 March 2023 under the “pretext of a committee meeting,” as well as the President’s refusal to reverse or lift Mkhwebane’s suspension.
On Tuesday, Mkhwebane called a media briefing in which she accused “the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as well as the ANC/DA alliance” of being responsible for the death of the late ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
In that meeting she said even if the judgement were to be issued, it would be too late for Joemat-Pettersson.
“It will also be irrelevant to me. So the Justices may as well send the judgement to universities because its relevance and usefulness is now only academic,” she said.
Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said Parliament acknowledged the ruling by the Constitutional Court, which rejected Mkhwebane’s urgent application for direct access to the Court.
The order stated that the state has a legal obligation to provide Mkhwebane with legal representation during the Section 194 enquiry.
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