Mkhwebane loses court action

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane lost her court application to stop Parliament from instituting a process to remove her from office.

Speaker Thandi Modise yesterday said she welcomed the decision of the Western Cape High Court. Mkhwebane is still considering her next course of action with her lawyers following the judgment.

The application was heard before a full bench of the Western Cape High Court recently, and yesterday Judge Vincent Saldanha delivered the scathing judgment.

Saldanha said Mkhwebane failed to state her case in court to halt the process to remove her.

“Moreover, a process for the impeachment of an office bearer of a Chapter 9 institution is not lightly taken and is a serious mechanism for the accountability of the office bearers of Chapter 9 institutions under the Constitution,” said Saldanha.

“A court should not lightly interfere with such processes unless an applicant has demonstrated exceptional circumstances, which, in my view, the applicant has failed to do. Moreover, the relief sought would not only impact the position of the applicant but may prevent the National Assembly from holding any one of the other office bearers of the Chapter 9 institutions from being held accountable under section 194 of the Constitution,” said Saldanha.

He said there was no merit in the arguments raised by the public protector and Parliament and the Speaker have a right to institute the process.

Spokesperson for Parliament, Moloto Mothapo, said the Speaker welcomed the decision of the High Court.

He said Mkhwebane failed to show she had a strong case against the national legislature.

“The judge accepted the Speaker’s submission that an interim interdict would have amounted to a serious restriction of a critical feature of the National Assembly’s oversight powers and would have encroached unduly on the separation of powers.”

Oupa Segalwe, Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, said she would study the judgment with her lawyers.