Mbete squares up to Mkhwebane
HER ORDER ‘WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ Speaker claims Protector encroached on Parliament’s legislative domain.
Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete has taken on Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane head-on about the future of the Reserve Bank.
In an affidavit filed on Friday, Mbete accuses Mkhwebane of making an unconstitutional, undemocratic order which “perverts the separation of powers”.
She filed the court papers in support of South African Reserve Bank’s (Sarb) application at the High Court in Pretoria which is challenging Mkhwebane’s order that parliament should amend Section 224 of the constitution which deals with the functions of the bank.
Her remedial action was part of her report released last month on her office’s investigation into Absa Bank’s purchase of Bankorp in 1992.
Mbete’s main points in the affidavit included that the public protector’s order was unconstitutional, was not a remedy and encroached on parliament’s “exclusive domain”, referring to parliament’s legislative powers.
Mbethe said Mkhwebane’s remedial action negated section 74 of the constitution which sets out the special requirements for amending the constitution and that her amendment perverted the separation of powers.
Mkhwebane ordered chairperson of the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services Dr Mathole Motshekga to initiate a process that would result in the amendment of Section 224 “in pursuit of improving socioeconomic conditions of the citizens of the republic, by introducing a motion in terms of section 73(2).
“The public protector does not have the power to prescribe to parliament how to exercise its legislative powers,” Mbete said in a statement.
“Please note that the public protector has not yet received the parliamentary affidavit and she will file her answering affidavit soon,” said Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Cleopatra Mosana. –