Staff Reporter.
File Photo.
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is expected to appear in court on Thursday on perjury charges.
She faces three charges in the Pretoria magistrate’s court.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in December charged Mkhwebane with perjury after the findings of the Constitutional Court in her case against the Reserve Bank.
Head of Accountability Now, Paul Hoffman, in 2019 laid criminal charges against Mkhwebane after the ConCourt judgment. The court has also found that Mkhwebane may have been biased in her investigation and did not understand her constitutional duty to be impartial.
She is due to appear at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday morning and is required to appear in person. Hoffman said on Wednesday that to his knowledge, the case set for Thursday was going ahead.
NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema on Wednesday did want to confirm Mkhwebane’s court date, only releasing a statement saying: “There will be a first appearance of a head of a prominent institution at court 8 at the Pretoria magistrate’s court, scheduled for 8.30am tomorrow morning, January 21.”
Mkhwebane is said to be facing three charges relating to her allegedly deliberately lying about meeting former president Jacob Zuma about the report. She stands accused of lying about meeting Zuma on three occasions where the provisional and final Absa-Bankorp report and recommendations were allegedly discussed.
Mkhwebane’s appearance in court comes just days after she was granted an 3 months sabbatical “to get some rest”.
The embattled Mkhwebane was granted the sabbatical by speaker of parliament Thandi Modise on condition that she avails herself for the parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
The inquiry, brought by the opposition DA, may lead to her removal over a number of investigations, including the Absa/Reserve Bank matter, which she bungled.