Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s urgent application in the Western Cape High Court for the immediate enforcement of the court’s order on Friday setting aside her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa will be heard on Tuesday.
CAPE TOWN – Suspended Public Protector (PP) Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s urgent application in the Western Cape High Court for the immediate enforcement of the court’s order on Friday setting aside her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa will be heard tomorrow at 10am.
If successful, the application filed by her attorneys could see Mkhwebane back in office just over three months after her suspension.
Mkhwebane approached the court in July in a bid to overturn her suspension, which her lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, said was triggered by a letter written by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in March this year.
The letter informed the president that the committee on the Section 194 inquiry to consider her removal would be resuming its proceedings.
After hearing from the Speaker, Ramaphosa issued Mkhwebane with a 10-day notice to explain why he should not suspend her in terms of Section 194 of the constitution.
In court, Mpofu argued the Speaker had no constitutional authority to write that letter to Ramaphosa and that the letter had led to huge consequences.
During the suspension, Mkhwebane has faced a gruelling parliamentary inquiry at which everything – from her management style, her judgement and her expenditure on many court cases in which the judgment went against her – had been questioned.
Mkhwebane wants the court to make Friday’s decision to cancel her suspension “operational and executable” despite any applications for review or requests for the court to appeal the decision.
Shortly after Friday’s judgment was handed down, the DA applied to appeal against the ruling.
Parliament’s Committee for Section 194 Inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office is the continuation of a motion tabled by former DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone and the independent panel found that she had a case to answer to the charges.
The charges contained in the motion alleged that Mkhwebane was incompetent and/or misconducted herself while in office.
Mkhwebane’s application said she was aware of a campaign to prevent her from returning to her post.
After Friday’s judgment, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said: “The Presidency has noted the ruling handed down by the Western Cape High Court. The Presidency will seek guidance from the constitution on the next steps.”
Meanwhile, the inquiry sat virtually on Saturday to make up for a number of days lost due to breaks.
The committee is expected to finalise its work by the end of September.
The committee heard that the State Security Agency (SSA) demanded to be reimbursed for the salary of an acting chief financial officer, who was seconded to the PPSA.
The office’s complaints and stakeholder management executive manager Nthoriseng Motsitsi, who also served briefly as acting chief executive, told the committee the SSA sent a letter demanding repayment for acting chief financial officer Vusumuzi Menzelwa’s salary.
In testimony given in August, PPSA Investigations manager Ponatshego Mogaladi told the inquiry Menzelwa was seconded to the office from the SSA.
