Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has spent more than R67m of her office’s budget on legal costs to defend public protector decisions taken on judicial review and on efforts to halt her impeachment.
Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, a DA MP, said on Friday this amount was disclosed in a written response to the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice.
She said the party will write to solicitor-general Fhedzisani Pandelani to determine the exact costs incurred in litigation by Mkhwebane.
The breakdown provided in the written response stated the public protector spent R38.8m in 2020/21 and R28.2m in 2021/22.
Breytenbach said “the budget constraint issues within the office of the public protector would be greatly alleviated, and important matters may have received the attention they deserve” had the expenditure been used to investigate cases instead of being allocated to legal costs.
Public protector’s legal bills cost taxpayers a whopping R67m in two years
Image: Freddy Mavunda
Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has spent more than R67m of her office’s budget on legal costs to defend public protector decisions taken on judicial review and on efforts to halt her impeachment.
Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, a DA MP, said on Friday this amount was disclosed in a written response to the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice.
She said the party will write to solicitor-general Fhedzisani Pandelani to determine the exact costs incurred in litigation by Mkhwebane.
The breakdown provided in the written response stated the public protector spent R38.8m in 2020/21 and R28.2m in 2021/22.
Breytenbach said “the budget constraint issues within the office of the public protector would be greatly alleviated, and important matters may have received the attention they deserve” had the expenditure been used to investigate cases instead of being allocated to legal costs.
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