Mkhwebane’s R10m gratuity case returns to court today

THE case brought by former public protector and now EFF MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane in her battle to receive a R10 million gratuity from the State will be back before the court today.

Mkhwebane has brought an urgent application before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.

Earlier this week, Judge Colleen Collis was told by advocate Dali Mpofu, acting for Mkhwebane, that although he and his team were ready to proceed, some documentation was still outstanding, a fault he attributed to the respondents.

He said the office of the public protector and the other respondents knew since March 4 about the application, when it was served on them. They were given timelines to file certain documents, which they had failed to do.

Mpofu also complained that the Office of the Public Protector had filed its answering affidavit two days prior and had not complied with the notice of motion as set out in the court papers.

He told the court that the respondents were giving his client the run around, while the matter was in fact urgent.

“Someone’s livelihood has been at stake here since September,” Mpofu said, referring to Mkhwebane’s bid to get the millions she claimed to be entitled to.

Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, acting for the public protector, denied that any delays could be attributed to his clients.

According to him, there was an agreement between the parties that the matter would be case managed and then allocated to a special (non-urgent) court, to be heard as soon as possible.

He said the facts of the matter were complex and should be dealt with by a separate court, given that the urgent court had time constraints due to the many cases on its roll.

Mpofu denied that there was an agreement on his part to seek a special court to hear the matter, but agreed that the parties would in the meantime decide on the way forward.

One of the matters which is expected to be argued today is who will pay the legal costs for this week’s court appearance if the matter will only proceed at a later stage for the main application.

Mkhwebane is challenging the refusal by her former office to pay her R10 million pension.

The Office of the Public Protector, on the other hand, holds that it is not entitled in law to make the payment.

In her application, Mkhwebane is asking the court to declare the conduct of her former office, in refusing to pay the gratuity, unconstitutional and invalid.

She asked that they pay her the money within 30 days of an order issued in her favour.

In the alternative, she is asking the court to declare clauses of the Public Protector Service Conditions to be illegal if they stand in the way of her receiving her payment.