National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise will soon write to political parties in Parliament to request them to second their members to the Ad Hoc Committee that will investigate Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane fitness to hold to office.
At the meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee, Secretary Masibulele Xaso, said the committee had already been established according to the rules.
Busisiwe Mkhwebane confident she will be cleared of any wrongdoing:
Xaso says this follows the adoption by the house on Tuesday of a report by the independent panel that found prima facie evidence of incompetence and misconduct against Mkhwebane.
“I can indicate that Speaker’s inclination is for all parties to participate in the process, but you could have an arrangement for voting members and non-voting members. But that will be communicated by the speaker to the parties. In terms of the time frames, the committee will determine its own programme in terms of how long it’s going to take to process the matter.”
On Tuesday, most political parties voted in favour of the establishment of an Ad Hoc committee in Parliament to investigate Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office. This is after an independent review panel found that prima facie evidence exists to institute removal proceedings against Mkhwebane.
Parliament votes on Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office to proceed:
The motion to remove the Public Protector was brought by the DA.
The EFF was among the parties that did not support the establishment of the committee. The party’s Member of Parliament Natasha Ntlangwini said the rules were deliberately crafted with the Public Protector in mind.
“We are opposed to the recommendations by the panel. This House never had rules on the removal of Chapter 9 leaders. These rules were made with the Public Protector in mind, a water-tight method to remove the Public Protector and no one else.”
