‘Public will hear from me and judge for themselves’ – Mkhwebane on inquiry into her fitness to hold office

Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane says South Africans will finally get to hear her side of the story and judge for themselves if she really is unfit to hold her office.

Mkhwebane was speaking to Newzroom Afrika in parliament on Monday, where hearings into her fitness to hold office were being held.

Mkhwebane said the hearings will be an opportunity for South Africans to finally hear her side of the story, and not what they have been told about her.

“We are ready. I think it will also give me an opportunity to take the public into confidence especially while the witnesses will give the evidence and we will have to cross-examine or clarify issues which were out there in the public. Members of the public will hear from me and judge for themselves and not what they’re being told,” Mkhwebane told the news channel.

“From our side we’ll also have to produce evidence. I like it because the process is inquisitorial, unlike in a court of law where it is accusatory and technical.”

Mkhwebane further said she would not back down on her challenge against her suspension.

Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane from office on 9 June, saying the suspension was in line with the Constitution.

“Section 194(3) (a) of the Constitution provides that the President may suspend the Public Protector or any member of a Chapter 9 institution ‘at any time after the start of proceedings by a committee of the National Assembly for [their] removal’,” the Presidency said in a statement.

Mkhwebane will remain suspended until her impeachment process, which is being handled by Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Section 194 Inquiry, has been completed.

She told Newzroom Afrika on Monday her suspension is unlawful.

“That suspension was very much unlawful and there is no way we could leave it. The court must objectively look into it, apply and interpret the law,” she said.

The suspended Public Protector is the first head of a Chapter 9 institution to face a parliamentary inquiry. 

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde