The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Monday said backing Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was a mistake and that the party regretted supporting her appointment in Parliament.
“She is a mistake … South Africa we regret supporting her. She is a Gupta puppet straight from the Guptas’ kitchen …once a spy always a spy. She’s proving without fail that we were wrong, please do not call her public protector,” party leader Julius Malema told reporters in Johannesburg.
He said his party thought it was giving a black African woman a chance, after former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s term ended last year.
“We were convinced that she should be given a chance, we argued that we could not replace an African woman with a male. We were wrong about her … she took over that office and immediately instructed that the TV channels in the office be changed to [Gupta-owned] ANN7 channel … if she was patriotic she should have chosen an SABC channel at least, but she went for the Gupta channel,” said Malema.
Malema said he was the first to receive information that Mkhwebane was a spy.
“I was told by reliable spooks that she is a spy. She is going to collapse that office in the way she caries herself,” he said.
The EFF would do everything in its power to “save the public protector’s office”, added Malema.
The EFF has dismissed Mkhwebane’s report into alleged Absa corruption as little more than an attempt to distract from the Guptas’ alleged state capture attempts, which were highlighted by former public protector Thuli Madonsela.
The interim Absa report, which was leaked earlier this month, said Absa should pay the fiscus R2.25 billion for an apartheid-era bailout of Bankorp, which Absa acquired in 1992.
President Jacob Zuma appointed her public protector last year to succeed Thuli Madonsela, following Mkhwebane’s nomination by MPs.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) objected to Mkhwebane’s appointment. The party said she offered no reasonable explanation during her interview for leaving a position at the department of home affairs for a lower-ranking job as an analyst in the intelligence services. Mkhwebane was too close to spy services, the party said.
Mkhwebane challenged them to prove that allegation, which they did not substantiate.