Parliament’s resolution to remove Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane from office is likely to end up in the courts.
Mkhwebane also stands to forfeit a loss-of-office gratuity that runs into millions of rand.
The EFF, which voted against the section 194 committee’s recommendation that Mkhwebane be removed for incompetence and misconduct, indicated that it reserves its right to legally challenge the matter.
The party has also called on others, including Mkhwebane herself, to join such legal action.
“We reiterate our stance that we reserve our right to take this report and the illegal adoption of this report by parliament on judicial review, and we invite all interested parties to join us in doing so, including Adv Mkhwebane and all justice loving individuals in this country,” said EFF MP Omphile Maotwe on Monday.
The EFF claimed the inquiry against Mkhwebane was a witch-hunt.
“The report we are required to endorse today is a product of a process that has been grossly unfair to the public protector, and which has been nothing more than a vindictive, political witch-hunt against her,” said Maotwe.
“This report was hurried and ignored basic principles of fairness that are normal and ought not be negotiable in a process such as this one.”
In July 2019, Adv Mkhwebane committed the cardinal sin of doing her job too well.
— UDM leader Bantu Holomisa
A whopping 318 MPs voted in support of the recommendation to remove Mkhwebane as the National Assembly adopted the resolution. EFF MPs were among the 43 who voted against her removal.
TimesLIVE understands that Mkhwebane will meet her lawyers on Tuesday to discuss a way forward.
She has previously decried the parliamentary process for unfairness.
One of her supporters, UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said Mkhwebane was being punished for doing her job “too well”.
“In July 2019, Adv Mkhwebane committed the cardinal sin of doing her job too well. She wrote a report on an investigation into allegations of a violation of the executive ethics code through an improper relationship between the president and Bosasa.
“The ANC and DA have led a charge against her for doing this,” he said.
Holomisa claimed Mkhwebane was being punished to protect senior ANC people who received payments through the CR17 donations.
Mkhwebane, with only a month left on her seven-year term, becomes the first head of a chapter 9 institution to be impeached.
In terms of the public protector’s conditions of service, Mkhwebane is entitled to a taxable lump sum gratuity on vacation of her office. The gratuity calculation is based on basic salary and period of office.
It is unclear whether she will lose this gratuity after her dismissal.
Her predecessor, Thuli Madonsela was paid a gratuity lump sum of R7,603,461, when she left office in October 2016.
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