Section 194 Inquiry at risk of collapsing after Parliament refuses to pay Mkhwebane’s legal fees

Parliament says it can’t foot the bill for suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal defence at her impeachment inquiry.

While she is expected to continue with her testimony next Monday at the Section 194 Inquiry, the impasse about the funding of the public protector’s legal team still lingers amid yet another court challenge.

Mkhwebane last Friday approached the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), seeking an order to compel the state to bear the legal obligation to provide funding for her lawyers.

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The litigation comes after the public protector’s office, which pays for Mkhwebane’s security, travel and accommodation costs, indicated it couldn’t continue to fund her legal bill in the new financial year.

As a result, the cash-strapped Chapter 9 institution has only made an extra R4 million available, having already spent R30 million on her legal fees for the parliamentary process.

Section 194 chairperson, Qubudile Dyantyi revealed on Monday the inquiry only had less than a month to complete its work.

The committee aimed to adopt a final report relating to the inquiry hearings on 29 May and then table it to the National Assembly for a debate and vote, according to a previous revised programme.

‘Money can’t come from Parliament’

It has since emerged that the Section 194 committee has asked the National Assembly to extend its programme to 26 June.

But National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula refused the request, saying the surplus funds of R4 million was meant to cover the month of May.

“We will not be able to push any further for anyone to make money available for the legal costs. One has tried very hard and it’s been difficult to a point where there was a suggestion that Parliament itself should now fund the rest of the hearings.

“We are conducting oversight… indeed we are responsible for the inquiry, but the money can’t come from Parliament,” she said during a National Assembly Programme Committee meeting on Thursday.

Watch the meeting below:

Impeachment inquiry could collapse

Mapisa-Nqakula warned the funding dilemma might collapse the inquiry as a whole and this would result in Parliament receiving an adverse audit opinion from the Auditor-general’s office.

“Equally there will be an audit finding against the office of the Public Protector, but the people in the main who will bare the brunt of criticism is Parliament as though it is our problem. It is not our problem.”

The speaker highlighted Mkhwebane’s legal bills had gone beyond the R4 million that was budgeted and agreed upon between the Public Protector’s office and Seanego Attorneys.

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“Honestly, we cannot go into June with this process. We had agreed initially that it should have been end of April, but because there were these negotiations over funding for the legal costs, now we are at a point where there is some money available and that money has been calculated [so] it will take us up to the end of May,” Mapisa-Nqakula told MPs.

“As a person who really has been battling to get this money for this process, I’m not prepared to get any more. I have tried my best and I’m not doing it again. So it is either [the inquiry] continues and it ends in May or the process collapses, and in that case it means the public protector walking away without a conclusion.”

‘We can’t continue to drag out like this’

Reacting to the matter, Freedom Front Plus (FF+) Corné Mulder said he was of the view that the issue of Mkhwebane’s legal bills was going beyond reasonableness.

“My suggestion would be to advise the public protector to appeal and go to the legal aid board… millions of rands have been spent. We should set a deadline and allow that committee to finish, but we can’t continue to drag out like this. It’s not an option to let this case fall or let the public protector walk away,” Mulder said.

Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader Annelie Lotriet had a similar view.

“I fully agree that this cannot be allowed to collapse because it would be fruitless and wasteful expenditure,” she said.

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African National Congress (ANC) MP Gerhardus Koornhof pointed out that the National Assembly would hold its last plenary on 15 June.

“That means if the committee endorses their new deadline, they’re not going to the National Assembly in this term and that means it will happen in the third term.”

The National Assembly will go on a constituency period, starting 15 June and ending 29 August, according to the parliamentary programme.

Deputy speaker Lechesa Tsenoli said the committee’s programme must not be extended.

“We must resist that… we can’t afford it,” Tsenoli said.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) MP Narend Singh suggested the National Assembly hold a special sitting if necessary during the constituency period.

“If we need to call ourselves back to consider the report of this committee then we must do so. Even if it’s during recess.”

‘Unrealistic and absurd’

Mkhwebane, whose term in office will end in October, was unhappy on Monday after being informed that she would have only four days to finish testifying at the inquiry.

The suspended public protector insisted that the R4 million was “unrealistic and absurd” and further indicated that she was not sure whether her legal team would work on a pro-bono basis.

She also maintained that she was entitled to full legal representation as per the ConCourt’s previous judgment.

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