By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is facing a parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office after an independent panel found there was prima facie evidence of misconduct and incompetence against her.
On Tuesday, her advocate Dali Mpofu SC sought to undermine evidence that she had conducted a “whitewash” investigation into the Gupta-linked Vrede Dairy Project scam that wrongly absolved former Free State premier Ace Magashule.
According to Mpofu, Mkhwebane had “kept on digging” about the role of politicians in the project – but had reversed adverse findings about Magashule’s lack of oversight because of his response to provisional findings made against him.
Meanwhile another version of how a classified intelligence report on an alleged covert South African Revenue Service (Sars) unit possibly landed on Mkhwebane’s desk, has been put before her impeachment inquiry.
An executive manager has told Parliament’s Section 194 inquiry probing Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, she received the report from the complainant.
In the first week of the inquiry, the committee heard from Mkhwebane that an unknown person dropped it off at her office.
An employee of more than two decades in the Public Protector’s Office, Ponatshego Mogaladi, said that she had limited involvement in the Sars investigative unit probe.
But she did meet with the complainant on the matter.
“During that meeting, the complainant sent me a copy of a report which was part of the evidence the complainant indicated he wanted to hand over and later on, this report was sent to me by email,” Mogaladi said.
Mogaladi, who has top security clearance, said that she didn’t initially link the document to the Sars probe.
“It was written secret on top, so I never went beyond to read the remainder of the document, neither did I disseminate or even print or do anything with the particular report,” Mogaladi said.
Mkhwebane’s legal team has suggested that the report was obtained anonymously.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.