Mkhwebane inquiry swallowing up Public Protector’s limited budget, Parliament told

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal bills for her impeachment inquiry may lead to the Public Protector’s office exceeding its limited budget.

This is according to acting Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka.

Gcaleka appeared before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on Wednesday alongside the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

Unpaid invoices

During the meeting, Gcaleka raised concerns about inadequate funding and informed the committee that Mkhwebane’s legal costs for the Section 194 Inquiry into her fitness to hold office was impacting on the other work of the Public Protector’s office.

The office pays for Mkhwebane’s travel costs, accommodation and security while attending the inquiry in Cape Town.

At this stage, the chapter 9 institution has paid out R2.7 million out of the R4.5 million that was received by the office since the impeachment inquiry started in July 2022.

The total cost of the proceedings, which is unforeseen and unbudgeted, may escalate to between R12 million to R15 million by the end of March, according to the Gcaleka.

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This is because the public protector’s office is currently verifying invoices for the period July to September in the amount of R6.4 million.

More invoices, which are expected to exceed R5 million, for the period October to December as well as January 2023 have not yet been received or processed.

Gcaleka told the committee that the office would risk exceeding its allocated budget should the Chapter 9 institution not get additional funds for the inquiry.

Last week, Parliament’s legal advisor, Fatima Ebrahim revealed that Mkhwebane’s legal team had not yet been paid for weeks after invoices were submitted in December.

Ebrahim said this would impact the Section 194 Committee’s work since Mkhwebane, who was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa last June, was entitled to legal representation at the inquiry.

‘Reputational damage’

The public protector’s office last year announced that it will fund some of Mkhwebane’s cases – including the challenge of her suspension, her defence during the impeachment proceedings and her perjury criminal case – but decided to withdraw the rest.

The decision was met with backlash from the African Transformation Movement (ATM) with the political party accusing Gcaleka of breaching the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

Meanwhile, Gcaleka also told the Justice Committee that Mkhwebane’s impeachment inquiry has caused reputational damage to the public protector’s office.

“The issue of the reputational damage is costing us a bit more because we need to increase on our stakeholder relations on the public participation, basically on the rebranding of the Public Protector South Africa,” she said.

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Justice committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe said a meeting would be arranged with National Assembly Speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, to discuss the impact of the Section 194 Inquiry on the public protector’s office.

“The committee wanted to deal with the blockages. It was, therefore, important to have the whole justice and correctional services family in the same house to discuss matters that create these blockages that can impact on the effectiveness of these institutions. The goal is to see how to remove these,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

Magwanishe also indicated that another meeting of this nature will follow after June in order to check if “the family is really getting together”.

Witnesses to testify

Proceedings into suspended Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office will resume in Parlaiment on Monday, 13 February.

The inquiry will continue to hear evidence from Mkhwebane’s own witnesses.

Advocate Thuli Madonsela is expected to testify before the inquiry after the Section 194 Committee resolved to subpoena the former Public Protector.

Mkhwebane and her legal team want Madonsela to give evidence regarding the Vrede Dairy and CIEX-Absa matters.

Madonsela recently told the committee that her legal costs – in order to collate documents and prepare a statement – would need to be paid for by the public protector’s office should she be summonsed.

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