Mkhwebane impeachment inquiry meets to adopt report on findings

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Picture Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Picture Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency

Published Aug 10, 2023

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The Section 194 inquiry into Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will meet on Friday to consider correspondence and also adopt a draft report on its findings on the impeachment of the suspended incumbent.

This comes almost two weeks after the inquiry met to deliberate on the evidence that was presented before it and found that evidence sustained the charges of misconduct and incompetence in some respects.

According to the Z-list, a programme of parliamentary committees, the inquiry will hold a hybrid session with some MPs attending physically in one of the committee rooms and others attending virtually in the morning.

The inquiry will consider “tabling of correspondence; consideration and adoption of the draft report (Part A & Part B) of the committee; adoption of minutes”.

The report to be adopted will be sent to Mkhwebane for her comment and once she has responded, the committee will consider her inputs and submit their report to the national Assembly.

Friday’s planned meeting will take place a day after officials of the ANC provincial leadership in the Western Cape would have met to consider correspondence from former party researcher, Advocate Winston Erasmus.

Erasmus recently made an application to the inquiry requesting the recusal of the inquiry’s chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi.

In his application, he cited three grounds for the recusal of Dyantyi, who refused last month a second recusal application by Mkhwebane.

Erasmus wrote to the ANC Western Cape secretary Neville Delport notifying the provincial executive committee (PEC) of “my reconsideration application regarding our province’s deployee, Cde Richard Dyantyi’s chairpersonship of the Section 194 Enquiry in Parliament of the Republic of South Africa”.

He said the section of his affidavit which received the most media coverage was the Special Operation, which was a war room activity.

The ANC rejected the allegations about the intelligence operation, which was allegedly targeted at former president Jacob Zuma and former secretary-general Ace Magashule.

“The purpose of my letter is to alert the PEC of potential harm caused by this project,” Erasmus wrote.

He also said he would continue to advocate for the removal of Dyantyi, who he said sought to fire a vulnerable member of the legal fraternity, Mkhwebane.

“She is an African female which is the most vulnerable group and under-represented in the legal fraternity dominated by white males. It is crime against democracy to see a bias chairperson who has prejudged the outcome of her case based on his roles, functions and allegiances to Ramaphosa, which Mkhwebane has and is investigating before she was suspended,” he wrote.

Neither Erasmus nor Dyantyi could be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Delport confirmed that he received correspondence from Erasmus.

“We will discuss it only tomorrow and come out with a statement,” he said.

Cape Times