40th time the charm for Mkhwebane? Suspended PP suffers yet another legal defeat

Suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been ordered to pay costs on another matter relating to her investigations into the country’s revenue collecting service.

Report into Sars IT contract

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has dismissed Mkhwebane’s report investigating the South African Revenue Service‘s (Sars) appointment of Information Technology company Budge, Barone & Dominick (BBD) in 2007, and ordered her to pay costs on the matter.

The Office of the Public Protector did not defend Mkhwebane’s report on the Sars IT contract, and as a result, it was declared invalid and unlawful, reviewed and set aside.

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Earlier this year in April, Mkhwebane recommended that the Hawks consider investigating alleged criminal conduct by current and former Sars bosses including Edward Kieswetter and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan over the IT contract.

“The conduct of Mr Gordhan, as the then commissioner of Sars and accounting officer, in approving the appointment of BBD, constitutes improper conduct as envisaged in the Constitution and maladministration as envisaged in the Public Protector Act,” Mkhwebane said in her report at the time.

The suspended public protector further found that the conduct of later Sars commissioners Oupa Magashula, Tom Moyane and Kieswetter in extending the BBD contract also constituted improper conduct and maladministration.

Mzwanele Manyi source of complaint

The complaint of alleged maladministration, improper conduct and procurement irregularities was launched in 2016, with the Office of the Public Protector by the spokesperson of the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi.

ConCourt dismisses appeal on ‘Rogue Unit’ report

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) on Thursday, dismissed Mkhwebane’s latest bid to defend the findings of the controversial ‘Rogue Unit’ report into Sars.

The ConCourt refused her leave to appeal application, ruling that it had “no reasonable prospects of success”.

Mkhwebane and the Public Protector’s office were ordered to pay the costs of Gordhan and former Sars commissioner, Ivan Pillay.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) also dismissed Mkhwebane’s “application for reconsideration of her petition for leave to appeal” the 2020 Pretoria High Court ruling, which set aside her Sars rogue unit report.

The SCA noted that the appeal had already been dismissed with costs by the high court last year, after Gordhan sought to have the report reviewed and set aside following its release in 2019.

Mkhwebane is currently attending a Section 194 committee tasked with investigating her fitness to hold office.

Compiled by Narissa Subramoney and Thapelo Lekabe. Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa

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