To allies of President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog is a wrecking ball who is abusing her office and could derail efforts to clean up government and turn the economy around.
To Ramaphosa’s opponents, Busisiwe Mkhwebane is holding the country’s top officials to account without fear or favour.
Mkhwebane, who was plucked from relative obscurity when she was appointed public protector in 2016, denies playing politics.
She says some of her most attention-grabbing investigations were the result of complaints raised by members of the opposition, which she has a duty to scrutinise.
But her recommendations for disciplinary action against Ramaphosa and one of his closest allies, public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, have placed her at the centre of a bitter power rivalry in the governing African National Congress (ANC) between supporters of the president and his scandal-plagued predecessor Jacob Zuma.
Political analysts warn that the powers of Mkhwebane’s
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