Mapisa-Nqakula’s letter to Ramaphosa ‘triggered’ Mkhwebane’s suspension, court told  

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in March, informing him that Parliament would proceed with the impeachment proceedings against suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane “triggered” her suspension from office.

That’s according to Advocate Dali Mpofu, acting on behalf of Mkhwebane, in her last-ditch effort to overturn her suspension at the Western Cape High Court.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa suspends Mkhwebane with immediate effect

On Monday, Mpofu on argued that Mapisa-Nqakula’s letter to Ramaphosa, on 10 March 2022, was inconsistent with the Constitution, because she had no authority to write to the president before the start of Parliament’s Section 194 inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

“If that letter by the speaker was not sent to the president, we wouldn’t be here. It has huge consequences. That letter triggered the public protector’s suspension by the president,” Mpofu said.

“I ask a rhetorical question in respect of that letter: where did the speaker derive that power to write that letter? And the answer, I answered quickly, is nowhere.”

The latest legal action by Mkhwebane has resulted in the inquiry being put on hold as her application was expected to be heard on Monday and Tuesday.

Separation of powers

Mpofu argued that Mapisa-Nqakula’s letter to Ramaphosa breached Section 41 of the Constitution, which provides for the separation of powers between the different spheres of government.

He said according to the rules of the Section 194 inquiry, the speaker was only supposed to write to the president after the inquiry had concluded its work, not prior to the start of the inquiry.

“If you look at rule 129, for example, it says that once the committee finishes its work, then the speaker must write to the president to inform the president that the committee has now finished its work…

“But there’s nowhere it says the speaker must simply wake up and write to the president to prompt him so that he can trigger a suspension, which is really what happened here,” Mpofu said.

Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane on 9 June, with immediate effect, after he had asked her to provide him reasons why he should not suspend her in terms of Section 194(3)(a) of the Constitution.

At the time, the president said he fully considered Mkhwebane’s submissions carefully and had taken into account the nature of the public protector’s office and his own Constitutional obligations.  

The case continues.

NOW READ: Mkhwebane’s letter to Ramaphosa was sent ‘under protest’