Parliament must remove Mkhwebane as Public Protector

29 March 2018

The DA will write to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to again follow up on the request that Parliament institute proceedings in terms of section 194 of the Constitution to remove the Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

Yesterday, 28 March 2018, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria rejected an application by the Public Protector to appeal against a judgment of the court in the matter of ABSA Bank Limited & Others v the Public Protector Case No 48123/2017 in which she was ordered to personally pay 15% of the costs due to her gross incompetence.

It is this very case in which the court made damning findings against the public protector including that she “…is reasonably suspected of bias”, that she did not bring “…an impartial mind to bear on the issues before her” and that she …”did not conduct herself in a manner which should be expected from a person occupying the office of the Public Protector”.

The court’s rejection of her latest attempts to escape liability for her incompetence is yet another warning that Parliament can no longer afford to delay – the proceedings in accordance with section 194 of the Constitution and section 2(1)(c) of the Public Protector Act must commence as a matter of urgency.

The Office of the Public Protector is one of the cornerstone institutions established by Chapter 9 of our Constitution to protect our democracy. We simply cannot allow Advocate Mkhwebane to remain in office and continue to deride its reputation given her conduct and the court rulings against her.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 29 March 2018