Protector wary of tackling Zuma
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is still undecided on whether she will oppose President Jacob Zuma’s application to review the remedial action in the “State of Capture” report.
Mkhwebane said she had filed a notice to oppose the president’s application in order to comply with the court rules.
“In the notice, I clearly indicated that I will consider my position once I have been advised by senior counsel on the legalities of the basis of the application,” she told journalists in Pretoria on Thursday.
“The complexity comes in that we don’t have a [legal] precedent … so it’s [about] checking whether an institution like the public protector can instruct the president to perform his duties in terms of the provisions of the Constitution …” she said.
Mkhwebane was referring to the decision by her predecessor Thuli Madonsela that a judicial commission of inquiry be established and that the sole judge be appointed by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and not Zuma.
Mkhwebane said she needed clarity on the matter and was getting legal advice from Adams & Adams Attorneys.
“It doesn’t make sense for us to oppose out of the blue. You need to have evidence [as to] why you [are] opposing.”
Mkhwebane said she did not have a problem with Madonsela’s report. “The report is there, the report is binding and I won’t change the report because the president wants it set aside and the office continues investigating the matter.”
The president launched his application against the report in December.
Mkhwebane has come under fire from opposition parties accusing her of being sympathetic to the president and the ANC government.
EFF leader Julius Malema, whose party supported her appointment as public protector, has recently said it was mistaken and claimed the party was looking for ways to remove her.
The DA has also accused Mkhwebane of being a State Security Agency spy.
Mkhwebane said on Thursday she was considering taking legal action against the official opposition party after it had failed to apologise to her.
Meanwhile, the chief investigator in the public protector’s good governance and integrity unit, Nkebe Kanyane, has resigned. Kanyane follows advocate Louisa Zondo, who resigned in November.