Nkandla investigator joins exodus from Mkhwebane’s office

Yet another senior investigator has quit the office of the public protector under Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

The Huffington Post reported earlier on Thursday that Advocate Nkebe Kanyane, chief investigator in the good governance and integrity unit, resigned.

While delivering her report on her first 100 days in office on Thursday, Mkhwebane confirmed Kanyane’s departure, saying the advocate had been given a “better offer somewhere else”.

Kanyane is understood to have played a key role into the investigation of improper security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s private home, Nkandla, which led to the Constitutional Court finding Zuma had failed to uphold his constitutional duties and ordered him to pay back the state for the cost of nonsecurity upgrades to his homestead.

Zuma is understood to have taken a loan to repay nearly R20 million last year.

A number of senior staff members have quit or been forced out of the public protector’s office since she took over last year in October, with the most dramatic being the departure of former chief of staff Bonginkosi Dhlamini, who was reportedly marched out of the public protector building, allegedly due to being a “security threat”.

Dhlamini has alleged that Mkhwebane was so opposed to her precedessor, Thuli Madonsela, that she even threatened to withdraw from an event in Durban last year if Madonsela was invited. Madonsela ended up not being invited, despite her international contemporaries honouring her with an award.

Dhlamini threatened last year to go to parliament to give a protected disclosure about the goings-on at the public protector’s office under Mkhwebane. He described her as “heartless”, “unreasonable” and “cruel”, among other things, in a string of his emails that were seen by City Press.

Mkhwebane also fired a former special adviser, Janine Hicks, who took her to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. She reportedly lost that case.