Mthembu opposes removal of public protector

ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the public protector‚ saying those seeking her removal will have to prove her incompetence.

Speaking to journalists in Parliament on the performance of the ANC caucus in the past six months‚ he questioned the wisdom of those pursuing the ousting of Busisiwe Mkhwebane on the basis that several of her reports had been overturned by the courts.

Mthembu’s argument was also advanced by ANC MPs on Wednesday during a meeting of the portfolio committee on justice following a presentation by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen in which he motivated why an inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office should be urgently instituted.

Mthembu said while he was not in a position to comment on the performance of Mkhwebane since she assumed office‚ because he did not serve on the justice committee‚ he believed it was incorrect to call for her removal each time a court of law overturned her reports.

“We don’t think that’s correct‚ it can’t be correct. That is why we’ve got all these safeguards in the Constitution. These safeguards say that these people who hold these offices are able to make mistakes‚” he said.

The public protector’s competence was called into question once more this week after she found that Western Cape Premier Helen Zille had breached the Constitution by praising colonialism on Twitter‚ with critics saying she had yet again overstepped her powers.

“Anyone who says the public protector is no longer fit needs to prove … that the public protector is incompetent‚ that she‚ through evidence‚ is unable to run that office. So far nobody has proven to any of us that‚ whatever wrong judgment calls that have been made by the public protector are on account of her inability to hold office,” said Mthembu.