Section 194 Inquiry agrees on Mkhwebane’s removal, EFF hints at taking report on review

The majority of members of the Section 194 Committee have agreed to recommend to Parliament that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane be removed from her office.

The committee met on Friday to consider and adopt a draft report on the impeachment inquiry proceedings.

The meeting comes after the committee found the public protector guilty on all four charges of misconduct and incompetence last month.

Mkhwebane has already rejected what she believed was a “predetermined outcome” and is likely to take the committee’s report on review.

No more delays

At the beginning of the proceedings on Friday, parliamentary legal advisor Fatima Ebrahim informed the committee that Mkhwebane’s lawyers, Chaane Attorneys, have withdrawn from representing the public protector.

Ebrahim said the public protector was now seeking additional time to allow her to attend to the matter as Advocate Dali Mpofu, together with his two junior counsel, have not been briefed since the end of March.

Mkhwebane has previously refused the assistance of a state attorney, citing a conflict of interest.

Deliberating on whether to proceed, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Annelie Lotriet said she believed the committee has been patient with Mkhwebane and her legal issues.

“We have gone beyond any reasonable opportunity to allow the public protector to obtain legal representation,” she said, adding that the committee cannot afford any further delays.

ALSO READ: Section 194: Battle is far from over, says defiant public protector

African National Congress (ANC) deputy chief whip Doris Dlakude and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) MP Marie Sukers shared the same sentiments.

“I don’t think it will be difficult for the public protector to use the services of the State Attorney to brief the senior counsel. We dealt with these issues and we have come a long way just for us to be halted at this stage. So I suggest that we proceed with the work of the committee,” Dlakude said.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Omphile Maotwe, however, defended Mkhwebane saying her legal issues were not her own making and described the inquiry as “a witch hunt”.

“It’s unfair [to then just rush this process]. She has explained several times. Firstly, she said she is not comfortable with the state attorney representing her for reasons outlined that I’m not gonna repeat. Secondly, they are not the legal rep of her choice so we can’t force them on her,” she said.

Watch the proceedings below:

Section 194 Committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi questioned why Mkhwebane’s lawyers decided to pull out after the committee rejected their request to be given a month to peruse the evidence heard in the inquiry.

“Their next action was to withdraw citing various unsubstantiated issues in that regard,” he said.

Dyantyi said Mkhwebane’s lack of legal representation had no bearing on the committee’s work.

“There are resources still available to her,” the chairperson said.

‘No longer about justice’

After going through the draft report in detail, most of the committee members agreed to adopt it and recommend to the National Assembly that Mkhwebane should be removed.

The EFF and Al Jama-ah did not support the removal of the public protector, with Maotwe hinting that her party may take the matter on review.

“The findings in the report were predetermined. This is the mandate that the chairperson and evidence leaders were given,” she said.

READ MORE: Mkhwebane: ‘I am one of the best ever, unfortunately they’re blinded by hatred’

“The fact that the report mentions that the process will be moot after the term of the public protector expires is proof that this process is no longer about justice, but about punishing an individual.

“Let us give the legal reps of the public protector the one month they need to brief counsel, that’s our position. Anything that is being suggested by committee members is rejected. We reserve our right to take this report on review because it looks like we are going to be beaten by numbers,” Maotwe added.

Meanwhile, Dlakude stressed that Mkhwebane will be given one more chance to comment on the report, thereafter, the committee will meet again to consider her representations.

“The National Assembly will have the final say,” she said.

Recusal application

Last month, Dyantyi refused to recuses himself from presiding over the inquiry after Mkhwebane filed a second application.

The public protector sought Dyantyi’s removal over bribery allegations levelled against the committee’s chairperson by Mkhwebane’s husband, David Skosana.

Skosana laid a complaint with the police in June, alleging that late ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson had approached him to elicit bribes for herself, Dyantyi and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina in exchange for making Mkhwebane’s impeachment inquiry “go away”.

While Dyantyi has denied the allegations, Mkhwebane has laid a complaint with Parliament’s Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests.

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