Court costs setting precedent, says public protector

MPs question Mkhwebane’s rising legal fees

PUBLIC Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has complained about personal costs orders against her, saying this would set a precedent.

Mkhwebane told MPs yesterday that many people were now using the courts to seek costs orders against her. This followed several judgments including those made in relation to the CIEX report on the Absa lifeboat and the Vrede dairy project case where the courts awarded personal costs against her amounting to hundreds of thousands of rands.

“I am still of the opinion that this is still creating a lot of precedents because people in those reviews are saying the public protector must pay personal costs,” said Mkhwebane.

She said she was doing her work as public protector when she was taken to court.

MPs also questioned her about the rising legal fees.

But Mkhwebane defended her reports, saying they were of high quality and that government officials must stop running to the courts.

The justice committee also demanded answers on the low number of cases she was investigating compared to her predecessor Thuli Madonsela.

But Mkhwebane said her office still needed more money from the National Treasury to be able to tackle some of the cases. She said the funds allocated to her were not sufficient.

ANC, DA and ACDP MPs said Mkhwebane was spending a lot of money on legal fees. But the EFF and ATM came to her defence and said she was fit and proper to lead the office of the public protector.

ANC MP Hashim Mohamed questioned whether there was a cap on the legal fees for senior counsel, given the high legal bill.

Steve Swart of the ACDP said during the 2012/13 financial year there were 22000 cases finalised by former public protector Thuli Madonsela, but this year Mkhwebane had finalised only 9 000.

At the time, Madonsela’s budget was R118 million, but Mkhwebane’s budget was R311m.

EFF MP Thilivhali Mulaudzi said they fully supported her and would not back any proposal for her removal from office.

ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula said they fully supported Mkhwebane and she was fit and proper to hold office.

Mkhwebane defended the money spent on lawyers to defend her reports in court.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and some officials of government have taken Mkhwebane to court on her reports.

The public protector admitted that officials in provinces had also taken her reports on reviews.

She said they were using a panel of lawyers for her legal fees.

“The issue of the legal fees, we have a panel of advocates and there is a cap how much we can pay per hour. Sometimes we appoint junior counsel to reduce the fees. We cannot use state attorneys because they deal with government,” said Mkhwebane.

On the number of cases she was investigating from 2012/13, she said they were also referring complainants to other institutions.

She said some of the people were directed to the health ombudsman, the South African Human Rights Commission, the tax ombudsman and other institutions.

“The public protector can focus on systemic investigations and how government can change service delivery,” she said.