Ace up her sleeve must not save PP

The ANC’s national working committee is expected to discuss and take a position on a report into public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

An independent panel constituted by parliament found that there was prima facie evidence that she was guilty of misconduct and incompetent.

The panel recommended that impeachment proceedings be instituted against Mkhwebane.

It is a matter of public record that Mkhwebane’s tenure has been hugely problematic.

She has lost a slew of cases in various courts for reports that judges found were a result of dishonesty or incompetence on her part.

Most scathing, perhaps, was the Constitutional Court, which found that she had acted in bad faith and lied under oath in relation to the Absa/Bankorp bailout matter.

It is now up to parliament to begin impeachment proceedings. But if ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has his way, ANC MPs would vote to block those efforts.

Magashule told Sunday Times that “principled” MPs of the ANC should oppose the motion.

His opposition is reportedly centred on the idea that the ANC should reject the motion as a matter of principle because it was brought by the DA. But Magashule knows that he is being disingenuous.

His opposition to the motion has little to do with the DA and everything to do with the fact that Mkhwebane has increasingly and overtly done the bidding of Magashule’s faction of the ANC.

It would therefore be politically unwise for an ambitious Magashule to allow for the removal of an ally from a Chapter 9 institution whose constitutional powers can be abused to serve his political interests.

This is precisely the point that Mkhwebane’s backers disingenuously miss when they claim that she should not be removed because judges in lower courts also periodically have their findings thrown out by higher courts yet remain on the bench.

The difference is that Mkhwebane’s conduct goes far beyond a mere difference in interpretation of law. She has been found to harbour ill intent when exercising her powers.

For this reason parliament would have failed its constitutional mandate if it were to ultimately vote to keep her in office any longer.