By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will be challenging her suspension from office by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In a statement, Mkhwebane has questioned the wisdom and legality of Ramaphosa’s decision and claimed the president’s verdict to remove her from office is in contempt of court and in breach of undertakings made to me by the President via his lawyers, and by a President who is now even more conflicted given the more recent Glencore and Phala Phala complaints/investigations.
Ramaphosa suspended Mkhwebane on Thursday with immediate effect pending the finalisation of the parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
The public protector has also announced plans to challenge part of the judgment by the Western Cape High Court handed down on Friday, which dismissed her latest bid to stop her impeachment process.
The court also ruled that she must pay part of the costs in her personal capacity.
Mkhwebane said the court judgement was focused on a technicality.
“It seems clear that the judgment is largely and focused on the technicality that the application is for an interim interdict and the special requirements of such interim interdicts, rather than the merits of whether this particular President is personally legally entitled to suspend a person who is investigating him for serious and impeachable offences,”
“And whether the provisions of the empowering section 194(3)(a) of the Constitution had been triggered (i.e., whether the removal proceedings had started) by 17 March 2022 or even yesterday when the suspension occurred,” Mkhwebane said.
Mkhwebane added that despite the errors of the judgment, which dismisses an application to strike out which was specifically not pursued, but grants personal costs orders which the Speaker and the President did not seek and only the Democratic Alliance (DA) which is the complainant in the impeachment process, asked for based on its obvious political agenda.
“Therefore, it seems appropriate to approach the Judge President to urgently set down Part B of the application so that those issues can be decided outside of the technical context of the requirements of interdicts, and before the commencement of the purported impeach.
A defiant Mkhwebane warned that she will fight her suspension and said she remains hopeful and optimistic that one day justice will be done.