Interim interdict should be ‘reconsidered’ on Mkhwebane’s office, Ngcukaitobi tells ConCourt

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane squared off at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) on Thursday over Mkhwebane’s report on the South African Revenue Service (Sars) so-called rogue unit.

Mkhwebane seeks to overturn an urgent interdict that was granted suspending the implementation of the remedial action against the Gordhan relating to his conduct at Sars and in government.

Mkhwebane and the EFF have gone to the ConCourt to appeal the High Court in Pretoria judgment in July which interdicted the implementation of the remedial action, which ordered President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action against Gordhan for his alleged involvement in the establishment of the unit when he was Sars commissioner.

The court is hearing arguments of when it is acceptable to suspend the implementation.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued before the court that the public protector’s role was an important one which was established by the Constitution and an interim interdict against her office should be reconsidered.

Both the EFF and Mkhwebane are seeking guidance from the ConCourt around the power of the courts to suspend the implementation of the public protector’s remedial action.

In her report, Mkhwebane found that Gordhan acted dishonestly by concealing the fact that he had met with one of the Gupta brothers.

In his response, Gordhan claims he did not intentionally mislead parliament. The EFF claims the unit spied on citizens and engaged in unlawful activities. In responding to the allegations, Gordhan said the EFF’s claims were baseless and Mkhwebane had no lawful, rational, or factual basis on which to exercise jurisdiction over the complaints, which was the fatal flaw in her report.

He described Mkhwebane’s report as incoherent and insisted she should not have entertained a complaint two years ago as the rogue unit matter was more than a decade old.

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