Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office on centre stage yet again

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office is on centre stage again following another court defeat.

On Thursday, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) dismissed Mkhwebane’s application for leave to appeal the high court decision to set aside her report into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2017 ANC presidential election campaign.

Mkhwebane approached the apex court after her report into the CR17 campaign was set aside in March last year by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa vs Mkhwebane in court: A detailed breakdown

Delivering the judgment, Justice Chris Jafta said the majority judgment held that no law authorised Mkhwebane to investigate the affairs of the CR17 campaign.

Mkhwebane’s office reacted to the judgment saying that “all they can do is to learn from the ruling”, Jacaranda News reported, since they could not appeal a ConCourt judgment.

Now many are asking themselves whether Mkhwebane is fit to hold office.

Inquiry

In March, the National Assembly in Parliament voted in favour of establishing an ad hoc committee to investigate Mkhwebane’s competency for office after an independent review panel said it found substantial information that constitutes prima facie evidence of incompetence and misconduct by her.

The independent review panel was established by National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise last year after the DA tabled a motion for Mkhwebane’s removal from office.

READ MORE: Parliament’s impeachment process ‘illegal’, says Mkhwebane

A total of 275 MPs voted in favour of the motion and 40 against, with one abstention.

The EFF, African Transformation Movement (ATM), UDM and Al Jama-ah voted against the inquiry.

While some ANC MPs expressed their objection to the establishment of the inquiry, ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe instructed them to vote in favour of the inquiry.

Mkhwebane slams judiciary

Mkhwebane previously accused the executive, some members of the judiciary and MPs of persecuting her for doing her job.

She said she was not fighting with anyone, but was simply doing her job as the Public Protector.

ALSO READ: Mkhwebane guns for Thandi Modise over her ‘siding with the DA’

She said she was being “persecuted by the executive, some in the judiciary and legislature who took an oath to defend the Constitution”.

This is not the first time she has slammed the judiciary for alleged bias againt her.

Mkhwebane fights back

The Public Protector has since challenged Parliament’s removal proceedings.

She filed any application challenge to the impeachment process in Parliament in the Western Cape High Court last month.

ALSO READ: Has Public Protector and Ramaphosa’s relationship gone sour?

However, the case raises constitutional issues and has the potential at least to eventually land up in the ConCourt.

This means it could wind up dragging on beyond the end of Mkhwebane’s term in 2023, eating up state resources in the process.

Additional reporting by Bernadette Wicks and Thapelo Lekabe