By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane made a long-awaited appearance at her impeachment inquiry on Wednesday, blaming the ANC and the DA for her predicament.
Mkhwebane criticised the process to remove her from the Chapter 9 institution.
She was appointed by former president Jacob Zuma in 2016 at the end of former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s term.
Mkhwebane says the enquiry has nothing to do with the constitution, but a special project that was established against her for Investigating “untouchables.”
“This whole process is a vanity “special project” of the Democratic Alliance aimed at scoring political points as the first party to have ever caused a head of the chapter nine institution to face impeachment proceedings,” she said.
“This process has nothing to do with accountability. It has nothing to do with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa or the Rule of law. This process is as far removed from the Constitution as the South is from the North.”
She went on: “It is a politically motivated witch-hunt masquerading as a bona fide enquiry under the auspices of section 194 of the Constitution. It is not. It is a racially motivated campaign born out of the fear of real change which might actually benefit the poorest and most marginalised members of the public, who are in the main black, at the expense of those who benefit the most from an untransformed economic status quo, who are in the main white and the backbone constituency of the DA.”
Mkhwebane believes that even her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa was meant to remove her from investigating the Phala Phala saga.
“Neither is my current suspension a bona fide exercise,” she said.
“The suspension is a vengeful, retaliatory and illegal act by the current president for no other reason than the multiple investigations I was seized with before and at the time of the suspension, principally the abovementioned CR17/BOSASA matter and the Phala Phala scandal, to mention a few,” says Mkhwebane.
She added: “It is these factors which have led to the formation of the unholy alliance between the DA and the ANC to advance their common objective of removing me from office by hook or by crook and, if the courts are to be believed, mostly by crook.”
Mkhwebane lashed out at NGOs such as the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and Freedom Under Law, which “should be helping and working with the Public Protector to deal with the marginalised and not taking me to court. They are in cahoots with the DA to deal with me.”
She gave some light background into how she found herself up for the job back in 2016. She did not mention specifically her employment with the SSA as an “analyst” prior to this.
“One of the staff members of Home Affairs approached me to apply,” she recalled.
She said that before her parliamentary interview her late mother had asked her why she would apply for a job as she had seen “how they have treated Thuli Madonsela”.
“I don’t think you want to be treated like that, she said. A lot of my peers also said, ‘you don’t want to be subjected to that’.”
Nevertheless, her burning desire “to serve the public” is what motivated her in the end, she said.
She only found out about the job watching television with her grandson who had told her “gogo, that is you” when her face flashed up on the screen.
“I used to work in human rights-related issues, I would want to help the public. Being in a career and a person who can help in that space,” she said is what kept her going.
Calling her predecessor, Madonsela, to testify, she told the committee, was so that she could set out what she had gone through, the struggle and the threats of being in office.
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Video Courtesy of Parliament.