Busi seeks high court protection
Protector decries ‘personal attacks’
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has‚ through her lawyers‚ decried an attack on her integrity‚ saying such an attack was designed to pave the way for her removal from office.
Her lawyer Advocate Paul Kennedy implored the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday not to be part of this ploy.
He took particular issue with the SA Reserve Bank’s “most unbecoming and seriously disturbing approach”‚ saying the personal attack on her integrity was unwarranted.
Kennedy said this “unwarranted and most unfortunate‚ inappropriate attack” was not only an attack on her personally but an attack on the office that she occupies‚ saying this would have serious consequences on the public’s confidence in the office.
“What we would submit is that the court should not be part of the game‚ strategy or approach‚” he said.
Kennedy said what was disturbing was that an institution of state that itself was required to be impartial‚ the Reserve Bank‚ was “acting in such a partisan manner … we submit that the court should take a dim view of that and certainly not accede this strategic relief that they now seek”.
The SA Reserve Bank is seeking a declaratory order that Mkhwebane abused her office and breached the principles of independence and impartiality in her handling of her probe into the Absa/ Bankorp “lifeboat” saga.
Of concern to the Reserve Bank were several undisclosed and scantly recorded meetings that Mkhwebane had with the Presidency and the State Security Agency during the course of her probe.
The Reserve Bank’s Advocate‚ Katie Hofmeyr‚ told the court on Tuesday that there were at least two meetings that Mkhwebane had‚ in the period between her provisional and the final report‚ with the Presidency and the SSA.
She noted that no other party was afforded the same treatment and that there was no proper recording of these seemingly clandestine meetings.