By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane with immediate effect.
In a statement, the Presidency said this was “in accordance with section 194 (3)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa”.
“Section 194(3) (a) of the Constitution provides that the President may suspend the Public Protector (or any member of a Chapter 9 institution) “at any time after the start of proceedings by a committee of the National Assembly for [their] removal, “the statement added.
Last month, Mkhwebane outlined her reasons to Ramaphosa on why she should not be suspended pending impeachment proceedings in Parliament.
Parliament is already forging ahead with its inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
She will remain suspended until that probe is concluded.
“President Ramaphosa and Advocate Mkhwebane are both obligated to act in the best interest of the country, in compliance with the Constitution and mindful of the need to protect all Constitutional institutions. The President’s decision to suspend Advocate Mkhwebane is the best manner to fulfill these obligations,” the statement read.
It also added that: “Section 2A (7) of the Public Protector Act states that whenever the Public Protector is, for any reason unable to perform the functions of his or her office, or while the appointment of a person to the office of Public Protector is pending, the Deputy Public Protector shall perform such functions. The absence of Advocate Mkhwebane from office will therefore not impede the progress of any investigations that are pending or under way.”
On Wednesday the public protector confirmed that her office was investigating a complaint against Ramaphosa related to his “alleged conduct in respect of allegation of criminal activities at one of his properties”. The complaint was made by ATM’s MP Vuyo Zungula.
The statement from the office of the public protector said that she gets “a lot of unfair criticism” when it came to investigations under the Executive Code of Ethics, with “some media organisations and politicians often accusing the office of ‘targeting’ certain members of the executive and getting involved in party politics”.
But the public protector was the only institution empowered to enforce it, said the statement. And on receipt of a complaint under the code, the public protector must investigate it, said the statement.