‘Arrogant’ protector wants to reply to MPs, not minister
● Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is embroiled in a fresh battle with parliament over her independence, this time blocking Justice Minister Michael Masutha from responding to parliamentary questions about her activities.
This emerged this week when Masutha revealed in written replies to questions from DA MPs that Mkhwebane had indicated to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete that written questions from legislators should be sent directly to her.
Written questions are oversight tools MPs use to hold ministers accountable for the activities of public entities they are politically responsible for.
Mkhwebane, who has had several clashes with parliament since she was appointed in 2016, told the Sunday Times on Friday it was inappropriate to expect her to file answers to the legislature via Masutha because her office was an independent body in terms of the constitution.
MPs had asked Masutha questions about Mkhwebane’s international trips, the number of senior and executive managers in her office, and about the controversial CIEX report which put her on a collision course with MPs after she instructed parliament to change the mandate of the Reserve Bank.
“What is inappropriate is to expect the public protector to account and report to the Ministry of Justice when section 181(5) of the constitution clearly states who the public protector accounts and reports to,” said Mkhwebane’s spokesman, Oupa Segalwe.
“It must be noted that the public protector is not against responding to parliamentary questions. She just requests that this be done through proper channels and reporting lines, seeing that her office is not an agency of the Ministry of Justice. Such proper channels could include the portfolio committee on justice.”
Segalwe said the public protector and Mbete were in agreement on the issue and the Speaker had undertaken to raise the matter with MPs.
Mbete’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Masutha said there was a much deeper issue: how the National Assembly held Chapter 9 institutions accountable. He said he had no powers to force Mkhwebane to supply him with information required by MPs.
“I can’t insist on the public protector accounting to me, in terms of what provision of the constitution? I don’t have such a provision that gives me power to hold any Chapter 9 institution accountable to me.
“The constitution says she must account to the National Assembly. If the assembly feels she’s acting in an unaccountable manner, they must call her, not me,” he said.
DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach, who sits on the portfolio committee on justice, said Mkhwebane was “showing monumental arrogance. If I ask him [Masutha] a question, he must get the answer. If she tells him to bugger off, he must sort it out with her. He’s got to put her in her place and do his job.”
ANC MP Mathole Motshekga, who chairs the committee, said: “We expect her to know the reporting lines. We respect the independence of her office, but she has no power to dictate to parliament and the minister. We call on her to desist from such practices.”