Mkhwebane says she's ready to tell her side of the story

Suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is looking forward to stating her case in parliament’s impeachment hearing.

“Definitely you will hear from me,” she said, adding that the court judgments against her, which the DA relied on when it tabled a motion for her impeachment, were not the truth.

“We will make sure we put our case across.

“They will hear from me and I am very excited about the fact that it’s outside the court process and litigation.

“I think you’ve heard the issue of court judgments and the DA relied mostly on that because they are the ones who brought the motion and now we are going to deal with facts and what truly transpired so that you, as the public, can hear directly from me because when you litigate you are not given that opportunity,” she told journalists after the first day of the impeachment inquiry on Monday.

It was unfortunate that she was being judged on less than 20 cases her office lost in court out of more than 60,000 matters it had dealt with since her appointment in October 2016.

“I’m excited about this process ... We are not going to be dealing with technicalities because that’s what the court had found [on] in most cases. They didn’t deal with the factual issues.”

When it was her turn to speak, the public would hear “what really happened” with the Bankorp-CIEX, Vrede dairy farm and the Financial Services Board investigations.

Mkhwebane was satisfied with proceedings on the first day of the inquiry.

In his opening statement, her legal representative advocate Dali Mpofu accused parliament and President Cyril Ramaphosa of “unfairness” and “sabotaging” Mkhwebane in fighting the impeachment and her court cases.

She said Mpofu had set the tone on issues of fairness and she was hoping the committee members would reflect on the issues he raised.

Mkhwebane, who challenged the parliamentary rules in the Western Cape High Court, was pleased that the court had ruled she could have legal representation in the impeachment process.

She confirmed she was pressing on with the court case to challenge her suspension and the impeachment process. The matter is set for hearing at the high court in Cape Town on July 25 and 26.

Mkhwebane has joined the matter in her personal capacity after the public protector’s office announced a decision taken last week to withdraw the institution’s participation in all pending litigation instituted by her in the name of the institution.

Mkhwebane said everything she had done she did as the public protector.

“I never did anything as an individual. If I was not the public protector of SA we wouldn’t be here. I am as well exercising my rights as provided for in terms of the constitution and the rule of law,” she said.

The inquiry will resume on Tuesday with its first witness, constitutional expert Hassen Ebrahim, expected to address the importance of the public protector’s office and its constitutional mandate.

LISTEN | Mpofu says Mkhwebane's suspension was "premature" and "biased"

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