DA’s Steenhuisen suggests Public Protector doesn’t know the law

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen has called the Public protector’s remedial actions on her findings against President Ramaphosa “completely bizarre” suggesting that they are not practical in law and are therefore unenforceable.

Steenhuisen was responding to a tweet by Power Fm in which the station copied the relevant page on remedial action from the report.

#Publicprotector
The Public Protector's remedial action on her findings against President Ramaphosa pic.twitter.com/90VdixNRVG

— POWER987News (@POWER987News) July 19, 2019

Steenhuisen strongly implied that public protector Mkhwebane was not familiar with the law when she made her recommendations, tweeting out, “This is a completely bizarre recommendation as it relates to Parliament. The President is not a member of Parliament and therefore not subject to the joint ethics committee. An Ad-Hoc committee makes far more sense!”

This is a completely bizarre recommendation as it relates to Parliament. The President is not a member of Parliament and therefore not subject to the joint ethics committee. An Ad-Hoc committee makes far more sense! https://t.co/0oQbzR6UrS

— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) July 19, 2019

Some have suggested that Steenhuisen is incorrect as the issue relates to his time as Deputy President and therefore a member of Parliament, but Steenhuisen has countered saying, “Yes but joint ethics committee cannot proceed against a non-member for breaches when previously a member. If that was the case it would be able to recall Gigaba, Manana, Vincent Smith etc…”

Yes but joint ethics committee cannot proceed against a non-member for breaches when previously a member. If that was the case it would be able to recall Gigaba, Manana, Vincent Smith etc…

— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) July 19, 2019

Yet others have pointed Steenhuisen to a passage in the Rules of the National Assembly which state that the laws can apply, as appropriate, to the president of the republic as they apply to a minister.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also expressed disappointment with public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane for choosing to entirely disregard his response to her finding that he misled parliament over a donation to his election campaign from Bosasa. On Friday, Mkhwebane released her report finding against him, despite a  51-page submission Ramaphosa made to the public protector’s office which noted that the findings made against him were “wholly unfounded”.

Mkhwebane had originally found that Ramaphosa deliberately misled the National assembly on November 6 last year when he claimed to know nothing about a donation to his campaign from Bosasa. The public protector explained she believed him to be in breach of the Executive Ethics Code due to the fact that he “should have allowed himself sufficient time to research a well-informed response”.

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