Committee for Section 194 agrees to sustain charges against suspended PP
30 July 2023
The Committee for Section 194 Enquiry into Public Protector (PP) Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, finalized its deliberations today which will inform its draft report and found that evidence sustains the charges of misconduct and incompetence in some respects.
Committee Chairperson, Mr Qubudile Dyantyi, said a draft report which captures the deliberations will serve for adoption by the committee before it is sent to Adv Mkhwebane for her written input. “We will provide the PP with a final audi before adopting a final report that will be sent to the National Assembly,” said Mr Dyantyi.
Today the committee commenced its work with assessing the charge that relates to Human Resources matters specifically related to the accusation of various instances of misconduct and incompetence. The charge relates to “intimidation”, “harassment” and “victimisation” of various staff members against her and Mr Vussy Mahlangu, Chief Executive Officer at Public Protector South Africa. The committee started with its deliberations on Friday and resolved to work on the charges and sub-charges in the motion in order to draft a comprehensive report.
The committee further dealt with the charges of whether Adv Mkhwebane managed the internal capacity and resources of management staff effectively and efficiently and if she managed the internal capacity and resources of investigators effectively and efficiently.
The committee also dealt with the charge relating to whether Adv Mkhwebane incurred fruitless and wasteful and/or unauthorised public expenditure in legal costs and it deliberated on aspects related to the ballooning costs of litigation and the auditing of the PPSA recognizing that it had achieved a clean audit under Adv Mkhwebane.
In terms of the SARS Investigating Unit charge, members of the committee who participated in the deliberations agreed that evidence feeds the narrative that Adv Mkhwebane entered into the investigation with a predetermined outcome and was not impartial. In respect of the report of the Inspector-General of Intelligence (IGI) report, the committee resolved that it must recommend that the unlawful possession of the classified report matter be referred to the State Security Agency for further investigation. Members noted that the classified report was unlawfully received and perused and that this amounted to misconduct.
In respect of the CR17/Bosasa matter, members of the committee indicated that Adv Mkhwebane did not conduct the investigation in a manner that ensured impartial or independent conduct of the investigation. Members indicated that Adv Mkhwebane relied on the wrong ethical code to come to a determination.
The committee further questioned the appointment of Mr Sibusio Nyembe as a ‘political’ adviser, Mr Paul Ngobeni as a consultant and Kim Heller and Sipho Seepe as communications experts. The committee also found that this affected Adv Mkhwebane’s independence and impartiality.
In conclusion, Mr Dyantyi said the intention is to have a sign-off meeting this coming Friday, or maybe next Monday but this would need to be confirmed as the deliberations had stretched to the weekend. The draft report will be sent to Adv Mkhwebane for comments that must be considered before the adoption of the final report. Mr Dyantyi applauded members for their consistent hard work, especially during the last two meetings. “I want to commend the members for maintaining a quorum on a Sunday. I kept checking in during the day to ensure that we had quorate at all times.”
The committee was established on 16 March 2021 to conduct a constitutional enquiry into the PP’s fitness to hold office.
Issued by Rajaa Azzakani, Media Officer, Media Officer, Parliament, 31 July 2023
