Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Section 194 Committee on Tuesday took exception to the tone of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in a letter she sent to the committee, in which she denied she is purposely delaying the inquiry into her fitness for office.
Last Monday, Mkhwebane informed the committee she could not give her legal team instructions because they had not been fully paid.
The committee could not hear any testimony on that day.
Committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi subsequently wrote to Mkhwebane, stating the delay about the legal fees “wastes not only precious time of all persons involved … but also the limited resources of both Parliament and the PPSA [Public Protector of South Africa] who carry the costs of your legal representation and travel”.
Dyantyi also wrote he was “perplexed” that despite Mkhwebane’s “insistence that [she is] entirely committed to this process”, she now appeared to be “purposely delaying matters”.
“I cannot allow the committee to be held to ransom, as appears to be the case, and I am duty bound in terms of both the Constitution and the Assembly Rules to ensure that the inquiry proceeds without delay.”
When the committee next met, on Thursday, Mkhwebane and her advocate, Dali Mpofu SC, took strong exception to the letter, claiming it contained “untruths” and “insults”.
Mpofu also used it to filibuster, saying the committee could not proceed unless it dealt with the letter.
The committee attempted to proceed, but the witness, Public Protector investigator Bianca Mvuyana, did not want to proceed without a witness statement, which Mkhwebane’s team failed to take from her.
The committee asked Mkhwebane to raise her concerns in a letter of her own.
In this letter, Mkhwebane said Dyantyi’s letter “contains disturbingly offensive material”.
Mkhwebane said she was grateful to Dyantyi’s intervention in the matter of her outstanding legal fees.
“That notwithstanding, your self-confessed emotional outbursts and gratuitous insults aimed at me as a person, as a public official and as a woman were, as intended, received with much shock and regret.
Mkhwebane stated she was unable, not unwilling, to give instructions to her legal team.
“The lack of empathy which is necessary for anyone to fail to grasp this simple reality is difficult to imagine from any person, let alone one who is supposedly our impartial leader in this accountability exercise and project,” she wrote.
Mkhwebane continued in bold caps:
“In case I have not made this clear in my earlier and/or this interaction with you and the committee: It was me, Busisiwe Mkhwebne, who found it difficult or impossible to impose any further instructions on my legal team when they were being unfairly and disingenuously not being paid by PPSA for work duly done and invoiced in terms of the applicable government regulations.”
However, later in the letter, she stated: “I had refused to instruct Seanego Inc until such time as the outstanding balance has been paid after which [they] will consult with Ms Mvuyana.”
Mkhwebane also rejected the notion the issue of her legal fees wasted everyone’s time, or she was purposely delaying the committee’s work.
“I reject, with the contempt it deserves, your accusation that I am purposely delaying matters.
“Equally, the accusation directed at my senior counsel implying that he must have been lying in stating that I want nothing more than to have my say and see this [frivolous] matter to conclusion, is unwarranted and constitutes another gratuitous insult aimed at me and my legal representatives who are simply performing their professional duties for someone that you and the others clearly resent and hate.
“This includes all those who have continuously and falsely praised you for being ‘fair’, ‘patient’ and ‘tolerant’ in the discharge of your duties. It is driven by the toxic combination of racist, hateful and political agendas by those who fear public accountability which is behind the concocted charges in the Mazzone Motion.”
Mkhwebane, who also copied her letter to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and the Gender Commission, demanded Dyantyi give her legal team the opportunity to address the committee, withdraw his letter unconditionally, apologise in writing and that it be read into the committee’s record, and undertake to “refrain from repeating such conduct in the future”.
In a letter, Dyantyi said it was up to the committee to decide if it wanted to hear from Mkhwebane’s legal team and he did not cede to her further demands.
The committee supported him in this approach when it met on Tuesday when it resolved not to hear from her legal team at this stage, but to focus on the witnesses.
DA MP Mimmy Gondwe said: “I’m stunned that they would even make demands in the letter they’ve drafted. The less I say about the matter, the better.”
She added it spoke to the “level of disdain and disrespect” for the committee on display from Mkhwebane’s team, and while they accused Dyantyi of “throwing tantrums”, if anybody had been throwing tantrums, it was Mkhwebane’s legal team.
ANC MP Bheki Nkosi noted the “tone and the language” of Thursday’s heated meeting was repeated in Mkhwebane’s letter, and he found it “extremely objectionable”.
Meanwhile, the committee set aside 10 days to hear Mkhwebane’s testimony, which will start on 15 March. On the first two days of March, the committee will hear from her predecessor, Thuli Madonsela.
The committee aims to adopt its report – which will contain a recommendation to the National Assembly on whether Mkhwebane should be removed or not – on 28 April.
The committee would continue to hear testimony from Public Protector investigator Rodney Mataboge on Tuesday afternoon.
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