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Report on Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office to be released soon

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Parliament is soon expected to release the report into Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

An independent panel conducted the investigation.

Last year, National Assembly Speaker, Thandi Modise, appointed Justice Bess Nkabinde, and two senior councils, advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza and advocate Johan De Waal to establish whether there is prima facie evidence that suggests that Mkhwebane should vacate office.

DA Chief Whip, Natasha Mazzone, had tabled a motion for Mkhwebane’s removal.

Her move followed a series of negative court findings against the Public Protector, including a Constitutional Court ruling that she had lied under oath.

Mkhwebane tried to have the process stopped, but the Western Cape High Court dismissed her application.

The recommendation of the report was handed over to Modise on Thursday and will be made public anytime from today.

Executive Secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC), Lawson Naidoo, things are not looking good for the Public Protector.

“There’s clearly a prima facie case for advocate Mkhwebane to answer to based on all of the evidence of the judgments including very strong comments from the judiciary about her misconduct, her lying under oath to the court to the courts, dereliction of duty so there’s clearly a case for her to answer and one would be very surprised if this independent panel’s report does not recommend that a full inquiry be undertaken,” he says.

Naidoo outlines the steps that will be followed after the release of the report.

“The National Assembly will take a decision as whether to institute a special committee of parliament, probably an Ad Hoc Committee to conduct a detailed investigation where they would hear not just written but oral evidence relating to this complaint. It’s quite possible that such a committee will appoint an evidence leader to assist them and guide them through the process, and that committee will then make a recommendation to the National Assembly, which will ultimately then have to take a decision as to whether or not to remove advocate Mkhwebane from office. And if they decide to do so, they will have to do so on the basis of two-thirds majority members of the National Assembly,” he adds.

Naidoo elaborates on this in the video below:

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