ANCWL: Madonsela must accept her term as PP is over

Following the public spat between former public protector Thuli Madonsela and her successor Busisiwe Mkhwebane that broke into the open over the past week, the ANCWL said on Monday that Madonsela should accept her turn as the country’s public protector had come to an end.

In a statement, the league’s secretary-general, Meokgo Matuba, said they had “read with disappointment [about the] attacks” on Mkhwebane by her predecessor in The Sunday Independent urging President Jacob Zuma to prove he didn’t have a hand in the appointment of Mkhwebane.

Matuba said the allegations were “a direct attack” on parliament’s ad hoc committee that had been established last year to “shortlist‚ interview and recommend a suitable candidate for the position of the public protector”.

“These allegations portray the ad hoc committee as nothing but a rubber-stamping committee of decisions taken outside the committee. The process of appointing the public protector was transparent and fair. All political parties except the friends of Israel – a nest of some with racist tendencies‚ the Democratic Alliance – supported the appointment of advocate Mkhwebane as a suitable candidate,” she said.

Matuba said “by casting aspersions about the appointment” Madonsela had undermined the integrity of parliament, Zuma, and Mkhwebane, “but also the intelligence of South Africans who watched the transparent and fair live interviews of the candidates”.

“Advocate Thuli Madonsela must accept that her term as a public protector came to an end after a seven-year term and she must focus on her new role at University of Stellenbosch under the chancellorship of Johann Rupert‚” she added, referencing South African billionaire businessman Rupert, who the ANCWL has previously criticised as being part of a cabal of “white-monopoly capitalists” controlling the country’s economic resources.

The former public protector is expected to take up a chair in social justice at the institution’s law faculty in 2018 after a year-long sabbatical in the US.

ALSO READ: Madonsela: Zuma had a hand in Mkhwebane’s appointment – report

Matuba has praised Mkhwebane, saying she had “acted in a good spirit of governance by ensuring that those who are liable for the damages of the state vehicle which was allocated to her predecessor pay for the damages”.

“That state vehicle was allegedly damaged by the predecessor’s son who was not authorised at all to drive a state vehicle irrespective that the vehicle was under his mother’s custody.”

The office of the public protector told The Citizen on Friday that the office’s former CEO (who resigned shortly after the departure of Madonsela), warned Madonsela in writing that there would be a cost in the event that the car was not returned, and further allegedly asked her to return it as her term in office had expired.

However, she remains adamant that the use of the vehicle was arranged and sanctioned through the SA Police Service’s VIP protection service.

On Thursday, Mkhwebane said Madonsela owed R470 000 related to past damages to the BMW when her son crashed the car a year ago, after driving it without permission from her. The amount was docked from Madonsela’s gratuity after her term ended in October.

Madonsela has suggested she is being punished for her damning reports against Zuma. She told The Citizen on Thursday:

“I’ve noted the false news about the car and advocate Mkhwebane and I supposedly working together. I’ve maintained silence because I believe that’s a proper thing to do but it’s not true that I still have to pay the money for the car or that I abused any car.”