The Public Protector’s office will avail an additional R4m to fund the suspended head of the institution Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal representation in parliament’s Section 194 inquiry.
The office, which is facing a cash crunch, is also reconsidering a decision taken by Mkhwebane shortly after her appointment to stop accepting donor funding in an effort to protect its independence.
The Public Protector’s CEO, Thandi Sibanyoni, told parliament’s portfolio committee on justice on Wednesday that the National Treasury has given it a go-ahead to use surplus funds of about R4m that were approved for the 2021/2022 financial year.
She said they would make the R4m available to support the Section 194 process “because we don’t want anything to disturb the process”.
“That is all that is available, and that money should cater for everything to do with the Section 194 process,” said Sibanyoni.
The Public Protector SA (PPSA) had planned to spend R4.5m on Mkhwebane’s legal fees for the inquiry, but this was when the process was scheduled to end in September 2022.
The costs escalated to about R30m, of which R25m has already been paid and over R4m the office has committed to settle.
Looking at the new financial year’s budget, they realised that paying Mkhwebane’s legal fees for the inquiry was not affordable because while they were paying her fees, they had to suspend the payment of the office’s other legal fees, said Sibanyoni.
“There are court orders that were issued against the office itself, so we couldn’t even settle those bills. We had to postpone them to this financial year.
“The budget that we have available now is only enough for our operational costs, to pay bills that had been accumulating since last year, so it’s very little and we cannot afford,” she said.
Deputy public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, who is acting in Mkhwebane’s position, added that they informed Mkhwebane, National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and chair of the Section 194 inquiry Richard Dyantyi on Tuesday that they are seeking advice on further assessment of the legal invoices from Mkhwebane’s legal team even though they have already paid some of them.
Gcaleka said they have also communicated the availability of the further amount (R4m), which she said was the last amount the office would be paying towards the parliamentary process.
“From this year, we don’t have any amount to allocate for these legal fees. We have our operations to run which have stagnated because of the money we made provisions for,” Gcaleka said.
She lashed out at government’s failure to increase the institution’s budget, saying it made it difficult for the office to fulfil its mandate.
In a move that is likely to raise eyebrows, Gcaleka announced that the office was reconsidering a decision by her suspended boss to suspend donor funding for the office.
“With the work that we are doing, we are confident that we are working towards one direction — to improve our reputation and our standing as an institution and therefore we can go out again and look into donor funding.
“Of course, as a Chapter 9 institution, we need to remain independent and impartial in the manner in which we approach our work. But we need to think out of the box and see how we fund particularly what we are pressured to do. We are pressured to institutionalise PPSA as it was intended and with the current budget, we are not able to do that.”
The parliamentary inquiry came to a halt at the end of March after Gcaleka wrote to Mkhwebane, informing her the office would not be able to fund her legal representation at the inquiry beyond the 2022/23 financial year which ended on March 31.
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Public Protector office to avail additional R4m towards Mkhwebane’s legal funding
Image: Simphiwe Nkwali
The Public Protector’s office will avail an additional R4m to fund the suspended head of the institution Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal representation in parliament’s Section 194 inquiry.
The office, which is facing a cash crunch, is also reconsidering a decision taken by Mkhwebane shortly after her appointment to stop accepting donor funding in an effort to protect its independence.
The Public Protector’s CEO, Thandi Sibanyoni, told parliament’s portfolio committee on justice on Wednesday that the National Treasury has given it a go-ahead to use surplus funds of about R4m that were approved for the 2021/2022 financial year.
She said they would make the R4m available to support the Section 194 process “because we don’t want anything to disturb the process”.
“That is all that is available, and that money should cater for everything to do with the Section 194 process,” said Sibanyoni.
The Public Protector SA (PPSA) had planned to spend R4.5m on Mkhwebane’s legal fees for the inquiry, but this was when the process was scheduled to end in September 2022.
The costs escalated to about R30m, of which R25m has already been paid and over R4m the office has committed to settle.
Looking at the new financial year’s budget, they realised that paying Mkhwebane’s legal fees for the inquiry was not affordable because while they were paying her fees, they had to suspend the payment of the office’s other legal fees, said Sibanyoni.
“There are court orders that were issued against the office itself, so we couldn’t even settle those bills. We had to postpone them to this financial year.
“The budget that we have available now is only enough for our operational costs, to pay bills that had been accumulating since last year, so it’s very little and we cannot afford,” she said.
Deputy public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, who is acting in Mkhwebane’s position, added that they informed Mkhwebane, National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and chair of the Section 194 inquiry Richard Dyantyi on Tuesday that they are seeking advice on further assessment of the legal invoices from Mkhwebane’s legal team even though they have already paid some of them.
Gcaleka said they have also communicated the availability of the further amount (R4m), which she said was the last amount the office would be paying towards the parliamentary process.
“From this year, we don’t have any amount to allocate for these legal fees. We have our operations to run which have stagnated because of the money we made provisions for,” Gcaleka said.
She lashed out at government’s failure to increase the institution’s budget, saying it made it difficult for the office to fulfil its mandate.
In a move that is likely to raise eyebrows, Gcaleka announced that the office was reconsidering a decision by her suspended boss to suspend donor funding for the office.
“With the work that we are doing, we are confident that we are working towards one direction — to improve our reputation and our standing as an institution and therefore we can go out again and look into donor funding.
“Of course, as a Chapter 9 institution, we need to remain independent and impartial in the manner in which we approach our work. But we need to think out of the box and see how we fund particularly what we are pressured to do. We are pressured to institutionalise PPSA as it was intended and with the current budget, we are not able to do that.”
The parliamentary inquiry came to a halt at the end of March after Gcaleka wrote to Mkhwebane, informing her the office would not be able to fund her legal representation at the inquiry beyond the 2022/23 financial year which ended on March 31.
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