EFF statement on the High Court judgment on the process to remove the Public Protector

29 July 2021

The EFF welcomes the judgment of the Western Cape High Court on the application brought by the Public Protector to declare some of the Rules that led to the current impeachment process in Parliament. The EFF emphatically agrees that disallowing the Public Protector the right for legal representation in a process that included a Judge and senior prosecutors is unconstitutional.

The EFF further agrees that the involvement of a Judge in a Parliamentary internal process undermined the separation of powers and therefore unconstitutional. Based on these findings, we demand that the fishing expedition currently underway in Parliament should be immediately halted and presiding officers of Parliament are reminded that they are not Parliament.

We remind the Parliamentary Office Bearers that they are not Parliament and cannot, therefore, appeal the western cape high court judgment without a Parliamentary resolution and mandate. The EFF will decisively oppose any presiding officer's attempt to challenge the judgment without a Parliamentary House resolution and will make sure such an officer is personally held liable.

The Presiding Officers must admit that the processes followed thus far are unconstitutional and should therefore stop the activities of the committee established to hound the Public Protector. The principle which we have articulated consistently is that those who have problems with findings, rulings, and remedial actions of the public protector must approach courts for judicial review. Hounding the Public Protector and subjecting her to a long litigious process will deprive her office of the necessary

attention it deserves to protect vulnerable South Africans, the majority of whom cannot afford to approach Courts for justice.

The EFF is the only Organisation in South Africa's Parliament that voted against a report which has now been declared unconstitutional because we knew that the ANC and DA formed an unholy alliance to destroy the office of the Public Protector. We will now write to the Speaker of Parliament to demand that she must not appeal the Western Cape High Court judgment, particularly that she has no mandate or power to do so outside of Parliamentary guidance.

Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 29 July 2021