Parliament’s Section 194 inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness for office, which was meant to have finished its work last month, now has a strict schedule of 25 sittings in which to wrap up all its business.
CAPE TOWN – Parliament’s Section 194 inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness for office, which was meant to have finished its work last month, now has a strict schedule of 25 sittings in which to wrap up all its business.
The decision was made after a meeting of the committee on Friday at which a revised draft programme was unanimously backed by all members in attendance.
It was agreed that the committee would settle down to hearings beginning on Monday.
Agreement on the programme followed a briefing from the committee’s legal adviser Fatima Ebrahim, who told them that Mkhwebane’s legal representation had finally been ironed out.
This achievement had come at a cost following Mkhwebane’s insistence that she continue being represented by senior counsel Dali Mpofu and his asking for a daily rate of R45,000.
Ebrahim said Mpofu’s agreement to continue with the matter came with the proviso that the two junior advocates, who have been part of his team since hearings began, were also taken on at an additional collective amount of R12,000 a day.
Ebrahim said the Office of the Public Protector (PPSA), which is funding Mkhwebane’s legal representation, and the solicitor general’s office agreed to the fee structure.
However, the PPSA warned that it was unable to stretch its budget further than the R4 million it pledged in May.
She said that while originally the discussions with the solicitor-general on Mkhwebane’s legal fees were about cost containment, the strategy had not worked and fees had instead increased.
She said: “The fact that all three counsel are now back on board means that there will definitely be fewer days available in which to manage those funds.”
The new programme has the committee sitting from Monday to Friday for the next three weeks until Friday, June 23 to finish hearing Mkhwebane’s evidence.
It sets aside two days, June 26 and 27, for the preparation of the closing statements that will be heard on June 28. The next three sittings, Thursday June 29 to July 3, will be taken up by the committee’s deliberations on the hearings.
This will be followed by seven days, from July 4 to July 10, put aside for the committee to write its report.
On Tuesday July 11 the committee will meet to consider the draft report and on July 12 the committee should adopt the report.
After this, Mkhwebane and her team will have 12 days to prepare their submissions before presenting them to the committee on July 27 for consideration before the final report is adopted on July 28 ready to be tabled before the House.
Regarding Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s recent query about how things were going with the inquiry, committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi said he would update her and House chairperson Cedric Frolick on the new programme.
After committee member Bantu Holomisa called for the chairperson of the Ethics Committee to brief them on allegations of extortion levelled against Dyantyi, other committee members dismissed the issue as a “sideshow”.
