AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
BELEAGUERED South African Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane suffered two blows yesterday when the Constitutional Court rejected her appeal and the National Assembly voted overwhelmingly to start an investigation into her fitness to hold office.
Mkhwebane had approached the Constitutional Court – the highest court in SA – to appeal against a lower court decision that the Parliamentary probe could go on. Hours after the Constitutional Court decision, a total of 275 MPs – with 40 objections and one absention – parties voted to start an investigation into her.
She is now the first head of a Chapter 9 institution to face an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
The decision to investigate Mkhwebane divided the governing party – the ANC – with some MPs openly coming out in her support and against a party line that the investigation must be supported. The division led to an 11th hour intervention by ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe and Treasurer-General who called a meeting and ordered ANC MPs to support the vote to institute the inquiry.
Four political parties, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the United Democratic Movement, the Al Jama-ah and the ATM opposed the motion brought by the official opposition party, the ,Democratic Alliance, for the parliamentary inquiry to go on.
National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise is expected to form an ad-hoc committee which will conduct the investigation. The committee will table a report in the National Assembly, which will be subjected to a vote.
The basis of yesterday’s vote was a report tabled by a special panel – chaired by retired Judge Bess Nkabinde – that found that Mkhwebane had a prima facie case of misconduct and incompetence to answer.
