‘Timid’ Mkhwebane is now ‘scared to do her job’

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s decisions not to oppose legal challenges against some of her recent findings has been attributed to the “chilling” effects of the personal cost order against her upheld by the Constitutional Court in July.

Her office has lamented that the personal cost order against Mkhwebane compromised the constitutional imperative to be independent and investigate without fear, favour or prejudice, as she now has to think twice.

“True. That has been her stance, that personal cost orders instill fear in her. They bring the element of a chilling effect as if to say she must think twice before making adverse findings against subjects of investigations,” Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said yesterday.

Earlier this month, the public protector indicated that she will not be opposing the application for an order temporarily suspending her negative findings against current and former senior former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) senior officials, including former boss Robert McBride.

Mkhwebane found that there were recruitment irregularities at the police watchdog under McBride and that Ipid failed to protect whistle-blowers.

On Tuesday, Mkhwebane reached an agreement with Makhosini Msibi, the Road Traffic Management Corporation boss, that her damning findings and remedial actions against him be set aside pending the outcome of the main review application.

This after Msibi approached the High Court in Pretoria to set aside Mkhwebane’s findings that Msibi irregularly appointed service providers, excessively paid his bodyguards and instituted improper recruitment processes.

Trade unions lamented that Mkhwebane has become timid since she was slapped with the personal cost order of the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) legal costs in the Absa/Bankorp legal tussle.

In February last year, the court set aside Mkhwebane’s report on Absa/ Bankorp, with an order that her office pay 85% of the SARB’s legal costs, while she was found personally liable for 15% of the fees.

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