Mkhwebane to appeal Western Cape High Court judgment

The suspended Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane says she will appeal the earlier Western Cape High court judgment that dismissed her urgent application to be allowed to go back to work immediately.

Mkhwebane had approached the court, asking for her immediate reinstatement, soon after her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa was declared invalid by the High Court.

During an interview with the SABC, Advocate Mkhwebane said she is ready to go back to work and finish her term in office.

“We are going back to the Western Cape High Court to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, but if the judgment or the decision is not issued before the 24th of November, we are hopeful that the same matter will be ventilated at the Constitutional Court. And again let that sink to South Africans, I am not a person who would just sit at home, that’s not in my nature.”

Mkhwebane suffers yet another legal blow in her bid to resume her job:

Meanwhile, Mkhwebane dismissed suggestions that she is politically affiliated to the African National Congress (ANC).

Mkhwebane said she does not know why an ANC branch in KwaZulu-Natal would want to nominate her into the position of the party’s Deputy Secretary General ahead of the ANC Elective December conference.

“People are hungry for ethical leadership, people want people who would represent them, people who are out there wanting service delivery, wanting accountability, wanting clean governance, so as the current Public Protector, I am still serving as the Public Protector and I am not in any way vying for any political position because I’m not even a member of any political party.”