Staff Reporter.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane appeared briefly in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Friday for her perjury case following her representations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
This relates to allegations that she intentionally lied under oath, about her investigation into an apartheid-era loan by the Reserve Bank to Bankorp.
Accountability Now laid a criminal complaint of perjury against Mkhwebane with the Hawks.
This followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in July 2019 that upheld a Pretoria high court judgment, which found Mkhwebane was dishonest about meetings she had with Jacob Zuma in affidavits submitted to the high court and the Pretoria Regional Court in 2017 and 2018.
“Following her representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions in [the] North Gauteng Division, advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, one of the charges was withdrawn,” NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema said in a statement on Friday.
Advocate Mkhwebane’s legal representative has requested the court to allow her to make representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Shamila Batohi, for further review of the remaining charges,” Ngwema said.
The matter was postponed to 29 September for the outcome of those representations.
The Public Protector’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe said although the withdrawal of one of the three counts of perjury is a “positive development”, the Public Protector remains unhappy.
“[As she] wanted all three to be withdrawn on the grounds that they were both frivolous and contrived, now she will make further representations, this time to the NDPP motivating for why the remaining two counts should fall,” Segalwe added.
The Public Protector is also of the view that the prosecution is not ready for trial because “based on the public protector’s previous representations” there were further investigations conducted.
“The Public Protector wants this case disposed as soon as possible, so that she can get back to her work and focus on taking the services of this independent, constitutional institution to grass-root communities where the services are needed the most,” he concluded.