Mkhwebane defends CR17 report, says she went to court ‘in defence of the poor’

Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane says she defended some of her reports in court “in defence of the poor”.

On Thursday, Mkhwebane returned to the hotseat at the Section 194 Inquiry into her fitness to hold office, where she is expected to testify until the end of March.

‘Factual errors’

During the proceedings, the public protector defended her invalidated investigation report into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 (CR17) ANC presidential campaign.

She insisted that there was evidence to show that Ramaphosa personally benefitted from his campaign to become the ANC’s leader despite her many defeats in court.

Mkhwebane has been accused of “reckless litigation” for defending her reports, but she said she chose to take the legal route “in defence of the poor”.

“This process, it has never been easy. I have been sitting here for nine months listening to the comments and how much has been spent by the [Public Protector’s] office for going to court,” she told the Section 194 Committee.

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“We were taken to court by the very same powerful people who have deep pockets and by defending those matters as the public protector, it was purely to make sure that we defend the poor. These reports we issue them to the benefit of the poor and the marginalised, but as well contributing to clean governance.”

Another reason she defended the reports, Mkhwebane said, was to follow the the Public Protector Office’s mandate.

“Sometimes factual errors can be made and the courts will come to a very wrong judgment. So at least a higher or another court will come to different conclusion,” the public protector said, adding that “sometimes, unfortunately, they confirm the wrong facts”.

Watch the proceedings below:

Mkhwebane also criticised the cost orders against her, saying they were delivered by the courts to “instill fear”.

She said if there might be a situation where Chapter 9 institution heads would be scared to make tough findings since it was “fashionable” for judges to grant cost orders against her.

“History has no blank pages. I must say it is very painful. I don’t know where I must get the money.”

The public protector went up until the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to defend her CR17 report via a rescission application, which was dismissed in March 2022.

She even approached the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) with a complaint of misconduct against retired ConCourt Justice Chris Jafta, who penned the majority judgment on the CR17 ruling.

CR17 report

In July 2021, the ConCourt dismissed Mkhwebane’s application for leave to appeal a high court ruling, which set aside the CR17 report.

The apex court held that no law had authorised Mkhwebane to investigate the private affairs of political parties, and concluded Ramaphosa did not deliberately mislead Parliament about donations, which is in contrast to what the she had found in her report.

Jafta, in the judgment, also ruled that Mkhwebane changed the Executive Ethics Code to align with her findings in her report.

The minority judgment, penned by former Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, concluded that Ramaphosa should have disclosed his CR17 donations.

READ MORE: Mkhwebane says her troubles started when she went after ‘the untouchables’

On Thursday, Mkhwebane called on the Section 194 Committee to endorse the views expressed in the minority judgment.

“Based on the facts alluded to above as well as evidence adduced during the investigation, my team came to the conclusion that there was merit to the allegation relating to the suspicion of money laundering, violation of the Executive Ethics Code and that the president personally benefited from the CR17 campaign donations,” she said.

She reiterated that she only investigated CR17 after a complaint was lodged by former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane, and a second complaint by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu.

‘Exonerated’

Meanwhile, Mkhwebane on Wednesday claimed that she has been “exonerated” by the evidence already led against her and alluded to possibly court action upon conclusions of the inquiry.

“The witnesses called by the evidence leaders and/or committee alone have exonerated me of any impeachable wrongdoing in respect of any single one of the charges.

“No court of law can possible uphold the contrary finding which will inevitably be made by the current DA-ANC overwhelming majority in the committee. The impeachment effort is therefore doomed to fail if subjected to any fair judicial scrutiny,” she said.

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