Reserve Bank, Absa slam protector
Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been accused of a conspiracy with the spy agency and presidency
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane did significant damage to the economy with an investigation “conducted in a grossly incompetent and fundamentally unfair manner,” Absa chief executive Maria Ramos said in an affidavit filed on Thursday.
Ramos said documents show Mkhwebane had an “ulterior purpose” when she, in June, said R1.125billion in apartheid-era government funds should be recovered from Absa and that the South African Reserve Bank’s mandate should be changed.
On Tuesday, in a similar filing, the Reserve Bank accused Mkhwebane of an “ulterior purpose” in what it painted as a conspiracy involving the presidency and the State Security Agency.
Absa and the Reserve Bank are simultaneously challenging Mkhwebane’s findings before the high court as irrational and unfair.
After the two institutions received various documents from Mkhwebane under discovery rules in that legal challenge, each intensified their criticism of her conduct.
Documents released by her, and now public after she dropped claims of confidentiality, showed Mkhwebane discussed the Reserve Bank’s “vulnerability” with the spy agency, the bank’s general counsel Johann de Jager said on Tuesday. “The fact that this topic was even discussed with the State Security Agency indicates that the public protector’s investigation was aimed at undermining the Reserve Bank.”
Ramos said Mkhwebane had been unable to produce crucial evidence, such as transcripts with key witnesses and a long list of letters. This, Ramos said, showed that Mkhwebane never saw them, and so reached a decision while disregarding crucial facts.
Mkhwebane’s predecessor Thuli Madonsela conducted many interviews during a stop-start investigation spanning five years, including with former Reserve Bank governors, ministers and former president Thabo Mbeki.
Mkhwebane issued a final report within eight months of taking office, after what she at the time said were only two meetings.
On Tuesday De Jager complained that Mkhwebane’s record of her decision was “woefully incomplete, confused and indecipherable in parts”. Both he and Ramos have demanded specific documents and clarifications they say are crucial to their cases.
In response to the Reserve Bank’s filing on Tuesday, but before the Absa affidavit, Mkhwebane lashed out in extraordinary fashion in a statement released on Thursday.
There are “several allegations orchestrated by a certain group of people with ulterior motives”, Mkhwebane said. “Their aim is to discredit the reputation of the public protector and her independence.”
She promised to respond in more detail with her own legal filing.