By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Members of Parliament want an investigation into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s advocate, Dali Mpofu SC, after he threatened the chairperson of the Section 194 committee.
Mpofu had asked for a postponement to work on the litigation following the Western Cape High Court ruling that overturned President Cyril Ramaphosa’s suspension of Mkhwebane.
The advocate also sought a postponement because the Public Protector was sick on that day, however, this was rejected by Dyantyi.
“On 13th of September I did say things might escalate to this. You might not like my words ‘your day will come’, but that the day has now come. That was all in an effort to try and avoid this situation,” he said.
He pointed out that Dyantyi has breached three standards of fairness, reasonableness and reasonable time as per the rules of the Section 194 committee.
A legal expert says Mpofu “prima facie violated Section 8 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act of 2004”.
Mpofu meanwhile confirmed that Mkhwebane’s legal team has submitted a 24-page document for Dyantyi’s recusal.
He claimed that he could have raised 25 grounds for Dyantyi’s recusal, but has focused on 12 grounds: one of which relates to the committee’s decision not to subpoena President Cyril Ramaphosa as a witness.
Mkhwebane’s recusal application also includes Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Kevin Mileham.
Mileham is married to former DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone, who tabled a motion for Mkhwebane’s removal from office in December 2019.
Mpofu said that the Inquiry should have focused on the issues identified by the independent panel as demonstrating prima facie of misconduct and incompetence, rather than the motion originally bought by Mazzone.
Dyantyi reiterated that the section 194 committee tasked with determining Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office is “history-making” – the largest committee ever convened since 1994.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.