Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane during the parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office in Parliament on 25 August 2022. Picture: Gallo Images / Daily Maverick /Leila Dougan
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign may have possibly raised at least R1 billion, according to suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
The Section 194 Inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office resumed on Wednesday, where she concluded her evidence on CR17.
Before she could begin testifying, Advocate Nazreen Bawa asked Section 194 Committee chairperson, Qubudile Dyantyi to allow her to question the Public Protector on CR17 before they move on to the next topic.
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Bawa explained she made the request because the CR17 evidence was “still fresh” in the committee and Mkhwebane’s mind.
“The second advantage is that the respective teams would have finished off on the particular section,” she said, adding that this would make writing their heads of argument easier.
Mkhwebane’s lawyer, Advocate Dali Mpofu, said the legal team was “totally against that proposal”.
“It’s completely impractical what is being suggested,” Mpofu responded.
But Dyantyi said he wants to “err on the side of not disturbing the flow” of the evidence and the committee to “proceed as planned”.
“The practical is key because we would have not featured that in our planning,” the chairperson said.
During proceedings, Mkhwebane reiterated that the suspicious of money laundering on the CR17 campaign was substantiated by the evidence before her office, saying that money moved through multiple accounts.
She told the inquiry that the campaign may have received an “estimated” amount of R1.2 billion.
“I did not calculate how much it was because I said there were amounts of R300 million [or] R400 million [but] I wouldn’t say it was the total. It’s just an estimation,” she said, adding that the campaign managers estimated it was around R200 million.
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Mkhwebane said Ramaphosa himself had confirmed that his campaign received R500 000 as a donation from Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations.
According to Mkhwebane, the president also confirmed that his son, Andile, had entered into a consultancy contract with Bosasa.
“But we were not investigating the son… the issue was the president and his involvement,” she said.
Mkhwebane continued to say that she was only interested in finding out whether Ramahosa met his obligation to declare the R500 000 donation to Parliament.
“It’s as simple as that… remember that [as] the Public Protector, we check what happened, what should have happened, where’s the gap there, what is the law saying and how to remedy that,” she said.
“We were following this R500 000 donation and that’s it. He never declared it according to the records in Parliament.”
She further insisted that her investigation was carried out “without any ulterior motive”.
“I was just doing my work,” Mkhwebane added.
On Tuesday, Mkhwebane claimed that some judges harbour jealousy towards her “because they think I want to be a judge”.
The Public Protector largely testified about the CR17 campaign, where she lambasted the court judgments that set aside the 2019 report.
She insisted that the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) had “made a mistake” with its ruling.
Mkhwebane labelled herself as a “sacrificial lamb” and criticised the “mainstream media” for pushing the narrative that she was incompetent.
“Now it’s an issue you can’t touch the president. It makes me feel that I’m being persecuted for doing my work,” she told the Section 194 Committee on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Mkhwebane says her troubles started when she went after ‘the untouchables’
She also said that it is unfortunate that her “mistakes are magnified”.
“Hence, now, there’s also professional jealousy. Or some judges thinking that I’m competing with them, or that I also want to be a judge. I’m not saying I want to be a judge,” Mkhwebane said.
The Public Protector disputed Ramaphosa’s claim that he did not know the donors who gave hundreds of millions to the CR17 campaign account.
“He knew. I do not believe he didn’t. What should I do with e-mails from one of donors where he was confirming he donated, he attended the gala dinner?”
