Public protector staying put
MPs accuse Mkhwebane of protecting politicians
Public protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has made it clear that she plans to serve her full nonrenewable seven-year term.
Mkhwebane came under fire in parliament yesterday as ANC and opposition MPs criticised her handling of the Estina Dairy Farm report and questioned why she saw the need to meet State Security Agency and former president Jacob Zuma at a time when she was finalising the CIEX report.
ANC MPs in the justice portfolio committee were divided on the matter as backbenchers Loyiso Mpumlwana and former state security minister Bongani Bongo leapt to Mkhwebane’s defence, while committee chairperson Mathole Motshekga took matters into his own hands.
Motshekga and other opposition MPs such as the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach and the ACDP’s Steve Swart gave Mkhwebane a hard time as to why her Estina report did not probe the alleged role of former Free State agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane and premier Ace Magashule.
The farm was set up as a local economic development project under Zwane’s watch but the #Gupta e-mails revealed last year that about R30-million from the project was used to fund a lavish Gupta family wedding at Sun City.
Zwane and Magashule are said to be close to the Guptas and the son of the premier is a business associate of the family.
Mkhwebane told MPs that Magashule and Zwane were not mentioned in the original complaint that triggered the Estina investigation and also due to constrained resources.
But MPs dismissed her explanations as “baseless and vague”, and accused her of “protecting politicians”.
EFF MP Sam Matiase challenged Mkhwebane to follow Zuma’s example and resign, but she would have none of that. “Honourable Matiase indicated that I should do a good thing and resign like the former president Zuma … I must indicate, honourable Matiase, I committed to serve South Africans in this particular aspect and the process to appoint the public protector was transparent. The National Assembly recommended [me] to the then president for appointment. I don’t think he had anything to do with my appointment.”
She said it was unfair for her fitness to hold office to be questioned on the basis of a single adverse court ruling.
The high court last year found Mkhwebane had overstepped her constitutional mandate when she instructed parliament to change the mandate of the Reserve Bank as one of her recommendations in the CIEX report.
She also denied meeting Zuma over the report, saying she had met with his legal adviser at the time.