Parliament committee recommends removal of Busisiwe Mkhwebane as public protector

Parliament's section 194 committee has recommended that suspended public protector (PP) Busisiwe Mkhwebane be removed from office due to incompetence and misconduct during her investigations.

On Friday, the committee inquiring into her fitness to hold office sustained all the charges against the PP, in a draft report on her potential removal.  

Doris Dlakude, ANC deputy chief whip, concurred with the recommendations of the report.  

“With the evidence before the committee, I’d like to join my colleagues that we recommended for removal,” said Dlakude.

Boyce Maneli, also from the ANC, added that the matters of misconduct and incompetence were sustained: “We are still going to give the PP an opportunity to comment on our [draft] report and elect to comment or not comment. In which case our report will stand.”

Annelie Lotriet, from the DA, voted for the axing of Mkhwebane. “The committee should go forward and recommend that the PP be removed from office,” she said.

But the EFF's Omphile Maotwe, begged to differ, saying the process by the committee had turned into a witch-hunt as it was rushed and Mkhwebane had lacked legal representation in some instances.

“We reject this report. It’s unfair to ignore that she doesn’t have legal representation for the sake of finalising this process. It’s a witch-hunt. Let’s bear with her.

“The report is premature and demonstrates the determination of you as the chair and the entire committee to move with speed to impeach the PP, regardless of the litany of procedural mishaps committed by the committee since inception.

“This is a frivolous political process to punish a person who is non-compliant with a dominant narrative that seeks to hold up the head of state as the centre. The PP has not had legal representation in the committee from March,” said Maotwe.

She added that the EFF reserved the right to take the draft on judicial review.

Several parties did not participate in the proceedings on Friday, including the UDM.

The committee found Mkhwebane guilty of misconduct and incompetence during her probes in matters of the Absa lifeboat case and Vrede dairy farm report. 

She was also found by the majority of members to have displayed incompetence and misconduct and a lack of impartiality in her handling of the SA Revenue Service (Sars) “rogue unit” case, which implicated former commissioner Pravin Gordhan and former executive Ivan Pillay in wrongdoing linked to the establishment and operations of the unit.

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