Mkhwebane's bid to avoid R1-million legal bill

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has not given up her fight to overturn an R1-million costs order arising from the Absa-Bankorp case.

She had sought leave to appeal a court order that she pay the money‚ but the High Court in Pretoria dismissed her application on Wednesday‚ saying there was "no reasonable prospect that another court will come to a different conclusion".

But Mkhwebane would now approach the Supreme Court of Appeal‚ her office said on Thursday.

"The public protector intends petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal‚ as she believes it could arrive at a different conclusion‚" spokesman Oupa Segwale said.

She had applied for leave to appeal against the section of the judgment‚ handed down in February‚ that ordered her to pay part of the Reserve Bank’s costs in her personal capacity.

She was not challenging the court’s decision to set aside her report and its remedial action‚ but just the adverse findings against her.

In her arguments to the high court‚ Mkhwebane said the court had erred when it ordered that she pay the costs out of her own pocket. She said this would "stymie the fulfilment of a constitutional obligation by the public protector" and would "adversely impact on the public protector’s independence and impartiality in future investigations".

She also argued that it would have far-reaching implications for Chapter 9 institutions‚ which would then operate in fear of personal adverse cost orders.

In the report that was set aside by the court‚ Mkhwebane found that R1.125bn should be recovered from Absa for an apartheid-era bail-out granted to Bankorp‚ which was later bought by Absa.

In a scathing judgment‚ the court expressed its displeasure at the manner in which the public protector had conducted the investigation.

It found that Mkhwebane did not "fully understand her constitutional duty to be impartial and to perform her function without fear‚ favour or prejudice".

Mkhwebane is facing scrutiny from Parliament over her handling of the Absa-Bankorp report as well as her report on the Vrede dairy farm project‚ in which high-level ANC officials are implicated‚ including former mining minister and ANC Free State treasurer Mosebenzi Zwane.