It was a media briefing loaded with insinuations, aspersions and bold accusations.
But noticeably missing from suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s diatribe on Tuesday was hard evidence or even any real clarity on her earlier claims that Tina Joemat-Pettersson, chair of parliament’s police committee, tried to solicit a bribe.
The audio recordings of what Mkhwebane says is verification of the shakedown did little to add credibility to her allegation that Joemat-Pettersson and fellow MPs, ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina and Qubudile Richard Dyantyi, wanted R600,000 to influence the outcome of her impeachment inquiry. Dyantyi is the chairperson of the ongoing inquiry.
In fact the recordings — released days after she made public several WhatsApp messages that were equally opaque — raise even more questions.
What was the context of these conversations? Who initiated them? What discussions came before, and what came after?
This is, of course, assuming the poor-quality recordings are legitimate. And we should not automatically make that assumption.
Is Mkhwebane genuinely exposing corruption within parliament and being pointedly dismissed and derided because of her clear political leanings?
But if they are, they do not provide a full picture of the alleged discussions between Mkhwebane’s husband David Skosana and Joemat-Pettersson. And the latter is tragically unable to offer any insight after her death last week, days after the allegations first surfaced. Her family says the cause of her death at her Cape Town home is still unknown.
Mkhwebane claims Joemat-Pettersson negotiated with her husband over an alleged bribe and that Skosana recorded the conversations. She released these recordings at her briefing. She says one of the two physical meetings they had was at OR Tambo airport where a woman — who Mkhwebane claims is Joemat-Pettersson — can be heard seemingly liaising on behalf of Dyantyi and Majodina.
Mkhwebane says the three ANC MPs wanted R600,000 to make the inquiry into Mkhwebane's fitness to hold office “go away”. The money would be equally shared among them. Mkhwebane referred to this as “the biggest corruption scandal”. Majodina has denied any knowledge of a shakedown.
What we do know so far is that Mkhwebane has repeatedly been accused of trying to stall parliament’s hearings into her fitness to hold office. The inquiry follows multiple decisions from her office that have been overturned by the courts.
She has demanded that Dyantyi voluntarily recuse himself, given her “evidence”. He has responded by telling her to lodge a formal application for his recusal.
With her term in office coming to an end mid-October, is this yet another attempt to stall proceedings? After all, a hearing into her fitness to hold office will be moot if her term has already ended.
Or is Mkhwebane genuinely exposing corruption within parliament and being pointedly dismissed and derided because of her clear political leanings?
It’s hard to know without the full picture.
But what’s clear is Mkhwebane is playing a political game, and her comment at the briefing that Joemat-Pettersson would still be alive if the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and the ANC/DA alliance, had “complied with their constitutional obligations”, was not only wildly inappropriate but also a brutal and distasteful way to spin the narrative.
The allegations of extortion must be thoroughly and transparently investigated. If there is any truth to them, the authorities must act without fear or favour. We hope the truth comes out.
But the claims cannot be used as a way to delay the inquiry in Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office. That would be a clear abuse of our justice system.
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