For debasing the office, for ignoring the law, for her sinister connections: Mkhwebane must go

Moves to unseat Busisiwe Mkhwebane gathered some momentum this week with National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise indicating she was satisfied that the DA, in submitting a motion to remove the public protector, had complied with the rules. It’s about time we were rid of this menace. In a normal society — ours is anything but — a person who’s either fallen far short of fulfilling his tasks or has overstepped the bounds of acceptable behaviour would fall on his sword. Or he’d summarily be removed. In our society, unfortunately, what is wrong often depends on where one sits. A wrong is oftentimes tolerated, even encouraged, if it fulfils a particular purpose.

In the current political environment, those who stand for what is right feel as though they are swimming against the tide. They’re vilified and denigrated, sometimes at great cost to themselves and their families. The crooks, meanwhile, have the carriage and swagger of individuals who have the law, or those who enforce the law, in their pockets. They have mainly been left alone to enjoy their loot.

There’s too much filth and corruption in this country. We need to clean the Augean stables, ruthlessly and promptly. Such a task cannot be accomplished effectively unless and until critical state institutions, especially those in the criminal justice system, the police, judiciary and chapter 9 institutions such as the auditor-general and the public protector, are manned by people of unblemished character.

Mkhwebane’s tenure has been engulfed in controversy since the day she walked in and promptly ordered that the office TV be switched to a different channel. She’s hogged the headlines for the wrong reasons, and in the process has reduced a fine institution to a tool to serve nefarious political ends. The courts have been unsparing in their criticism. If Mkhwebane had some honour and dignity about her, she would not only have long since resigned, she would have been too ashamed to show her face in public after the excoriation she got from the courts. Her judgment, even her character, have been questioned. But she’s unfazed, and in fact seems to enjoy the limelight.

In a blistering judgment, the Constitutional Court ruled that Mkhwebane acted in bad faith in her investigation of the Reserve Bank’s apartheid-era bailout of Bankorp, and agreed with a high court decision that personal costs be awarded against her. “There can be no fear or danger of a personal costs award where the public official acts in accordance with the standard of conduct required of them by the law and the constitution,” the court said. That should have been enough to make a sensible public servant throw in the towel. But apparently it was like water off a duck’s back.

Judge Ronel Tolmay, in dismissing the public protector’s report on the Estina dairy farm in Vrede, described Mkhwebane’s conduct in this instance as “worse and more lamentable” than that in the Reserve Bank matter, as that involved institutions with resources to defend themselves. Estina, Tolmay said, involved the rights of the poor and vulnerable with no means to fight for themselves. Mkhwebane’s report was a whitewash as it failed to investigate the role of key figures in the saga, such as former Free State premier Ace Magashule and former agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane.

Interestingly, though Zwane is still under investigation, he was — among other state capture luminaries — an honoured guest at Mkhwebane’s 50th birthday party recently, in yet another example of her woefully poor judgment. Or maybe she just doesn’t care.

There will be those who will urge that the matter be approached with some caution. Mkhwebane has, after all, been pursuing public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and those close to him in the so-called South African Revenue Service rogue unit. She also has no less a big fish than the president of the country in her crosshairs.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has asked the high court to set aside Mkhwebane’s report on a Bosasa donation to his CR17 campaign. His lawyer, Wim Trengove, told a full bench of the North Gauteng High Court: “This is a rogue public protector, who doesn’t pay any heed to the facts or the law in her reckless determination to find the president guilty of improper conduct.” An impartial observer will regard this as a fair and accurate description of the incumbent.

Any attempt to remove her from office could therefore be interpreted by some as retribution by Ramaphosa or his government. But such sentiments should be ignored. Mkhwebane is already using that line of argument in her court attempt to stop the parliamentary process to remove her. But Ramaphosa must be resolute.

The fate of his presidency may depend on it. If he does what’s right, reasonable people will support him. But a lot hangs on the ANC caucus. Ramaphosa’s problem is that his writ does not always run in his party.

One never knows, therefore, which ANC will turn up. Is it the one that accounts to Jacob Zuma through the Svengali at Luthuli House? Or is it the one that seems to be increasingly looking up to and making common cause with Julius Malema?

The EFF’s attitude to Mkhwebane, like everything it stands for, seems to swing with the moods of its volatile leader. The party supported her appointment. Then Malema publicly disowned her and asked for forgiveness. Now another volte-face: they believe she’s the best thing since sliced bread. She’s repaid them by seemingly being at their beck and call.

Mkhwebane must go. She has not only debased the office, she’s become a handmaiden of those working against the public interest. If Ramaphosa is to stand half a chance to successfully fight rampant corruption, she’s the boulder that has to be moved out of the way.