Floyd Shivambu tells Thuli Madonsela to relax, defends Busisiwe Mkhwebane
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The EFF's Floyd Shivambu has come to public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's defence after Thuli Madonsela questioned her successor's methods.
Last week Mkhwebane said public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan had been implicated in her investigation into the rogue unit at revenue service Sars.
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TimesLIVE reported that Mkhwebane announced on social media that she had issued Gordhan with a section 7(9) notice about many complaints lodged against him by the EFF.
In the same week, she issued President Cyril Ramaphosa such a notice detailing the findings against him regarding his donation from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson.
In a Business Day report, Madonsela said Mkhwebane took the unprecedented step of releasing confidential aspects of probes to the public.
Madonsela said Mkhwebane should not have used her predecessor to justify her actions, adding that her office never announced such.
"When the media asked my office if anyone was implicated, we'd say it's confidential. It may be that an implicated person provides us with evidence that exonerates him or her.
"Should that happen, we would not want their reputation to be unfairly besmirched through us identifying them as implicated," Madonsela told the publication.
Taking to Twitter, she said "announcing that you've released a provisional report is not the same as announcing you've released a section 7(9) notice."
To those who don’t know➡️announcing that you’ve released a provisional report is not the same as announcing you’ve released a section 7(9) notice. The latter could contain a decision that exculpates who ever was accused whereas the latter is solely to say you are implicated
— Prof Thuli Madonsela (@ThuliMadonsela3) June 10, 2019
Madonsela said the reason she chose to speak on the matter was to "clear her name". However, Floyd Shivambu criticised her move.
When my name is involved wrongfully not only do I have a right to correct the wrong I have a responsibility to tel the truth
— Prof Thuli Madonsela (@ThuliMadonsela3) June 10, 2019
Shivambu said Madonsela must "relax" and allow Mkhwebane to do her job.
The former Public Protector @ThuliMadonsela3 must relax and allow the incumbent to do her job. She did her job, had some of her case overturned by Courts, released some reports for political motives, and we bid her farewell. Please don’t force us to change our opinions about you.
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) June 10, 2019
In her defence, Madonsela said it was her "responsibility to tell the truth".
🙏🏾But my name should not be invoked wrongly.If it is I not only have a right but a responsibility to tell the truth.I never announced that I’d issued a section 7(9) because that’s prejudicial. This was so right until the end when I issued one against the Presiden on State Capture https://t.co/Cw0ZC0UGzN
— Prof Thuli Madonsela (@ThuliMadonsela3) June 10, 2019
Earlier, Shivambu had mentioned the SACP's concern at the manner in which Madonsela handled her investigation in defence of former president Jacob Zuma 2014.
SACP criticises Madonsela over Nkandla report https://t.co/67RfHYvwgZ. Not long ago, the SACP was fighting with former Public Protector @ThuliMadonsela3 in Defence of Zuma. It looks like singing for supper is their kind of politics.
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) June 10, 2019
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