‘If I perish, I perish’ – Busisiwe Mkhwebane fights firing as public protector

President Cyril Ramaphosa has formally fired advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, a month before her term as Public Protector was due to end.

Mkhwebane was officially removed from office after a majority of MPs in the National Assembly voted on Monday in support of her impeachment.

318 members of Parliament supported her removal, while 43 were against and one abstained.

Fired

In a letter to Mkhwebane on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said the Constitution outlined he must remove the Public Protector from office.

“I therefore hereby inform you that you are hereby removed from the Office of the Public Protector in terms of section 194(3)(b) of the Constitution on the grounds of misconduct and incompetence,” the president said.

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Mkhwebane reacted to her firing, telling The Citizen she would meet with her legal team to discuss a way forward.

She later posted Ramaphosa’s letter online, saying it would be challenged.

“DA/ANC mission accomplished! I wish we could see such ‘concomitant efficiency’ to end load shedding?

“This injustice, sadly perpetrated on Steve Biko Day, will be legally challenged in review proceedings. The stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone. If I perish, I perish. Ngiyathokoza Mzansi and Africa,” she tweeted.

The African National Congress (ANC) said the removal of Busisiwe Mkhwebane from office should serve as a lesson to her successor that a head of a Chapter 9 institution cannot act like a law unto themselves

“As the nation closes the Mkhwebane chapter, we hope that the new public protector will take the sad and ugly lessons of the Mkhwebane era into account and strive to build a solid and accountable office that is above factional loyalties.

“Never again must a head of a Chapter 9 institution act like a law unto himself/herself. We hope her successor will have the humility and maturity to respect the decorum and dignity of the office and refrain from bringing it into disrepute,” said National Spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri.

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