Now Mkhwebane blames staff for ‘alleging misconduct against her’

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, whose woes continue to be a source of division in the ANC parliamentary caucus, with MP Supra Mahumapelo openly coming out in her support, has blamed senior staff for escalating a campaign to remove her from office.

The ANC recently distanced itself from Mahumapelo’s support for the public protector.

In the latest twist in the Mkhwebane saga her spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, claimed she blamed staff facing disciplinary action for deposing affidavits “in bad faith”, alleging misconduct against her. Segalwe said these were sent to parliament “in an apparent attempt to influence the process of her removal”.

“She has noted a worrying trend among certain senior staff members against whom disciplinary action is either being taken or contemplated, to depose to affidavits in which they allege misconduct against her,” said Segalwe.

“Mkhwebane has not ruled out the possibility these staff members are working with external parties, who have been pushing for her impeachment on the premise that disclosures from within will carry more weight than the claims made by outsiders.

“She finds it strange that the staff members, who allege misconduct in investigations they were involved in, kept quiet for years, only to start talking when disciplinary action was being taken, or contemplated, against them for unrelated matters. The public protector believes the purported disclosures are, therefore, made in bad faith.”

Segalwe said a senior investigator, who worked on the Bankorp-CIEX investigation in 2016, also recently filed an affidavit and forwarded it to parliament.

“When the matter was taken on review, he deposed to a confirmatory affidavit to affirm what was in the public protector’s own affidavit in response to the review application,” said Segalwe.

“His latest affidavit contradicts the confirmatory one he deposed before, now coming at a time when he was facing disciplinary action for an unrelated matter.

“The latest staff member to depose to an affidavit, alleging misconduct against the public protector, supervised the senior investigator who led the Vrede investigation. A report thereof was issued in February 2018. He kept quiet all along.”

In the CIEX report released in 2017, Mkhwebane called for Absa Bank to repay R1.125 billion for a lifeboat provided to Bankorp by the Reserve Bank in the apartheid era. The High Court in Pretoria found she had not applied her mind to the matter and set it aside.

– brians@citizen.co.za

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