‘President Mkhwebane’ — suspended public protector hints at possible post-inquiry career in politics

Busisiwe Mkhwebane briefs the media on Section 194 proceedings and the Constitutional Court judgement on her suspension at Court Classique Hotel on 18 July, 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu)

By Marianne Thamm

18 Jul 2023

At her second public press conference since abandoning her 194 impeachment inquiry, Busisiwe Mkhwebane hinted on Tuesday that she might enter politics in future.

When asked by a member of the Progressive Independent News Agency (Pina) — whose website appears not to exist and which has 500 followers on Facebook — as to her future plans, the suspended public protector said she was going “to serve the public” one way or another.

“I will be checking which space to occupy which will continue to fight for the liberation of those who are oppressed and for us as a country that we succeed.

“There are a number of options on the table. I might come back as an independent candidate for president,” Mkhwebane announced.

Read more in Daily Maverick: At Sandton ‘press conference’, Mkhwebane’s reality distortion field acquires even more warped dimensions

Having missed three deadlines set by the Section 194 Inquiry into her fitness to hold office, the suspended public protector on Tuesday called the conference together with her husband, David Skosana.

In Mkhwebane and Skosana’s world, no deadlines had been missed, as she explained, because she did not accept the new directives by the committee to continue its work while she sorted out her legal woes.

From lawyers suddenly taken gravely ill to insufficient funds, to turning down a State Attorney Mkhwebane has wrestled this python for months

Read more in Daily Maverick:

Unanswered questions, Part One: Evidence of secret meetings with Jacob Zuma and SSA involvement unchallenged by Mkhwebane, Unanswered questions,

Part Two: Mkhwebane fails to clarify possession of classified IG report used for SARS ‘rogue unit’ probe

Unanswered questions, Part Three: Seeking clarity on role of ‘legal adviser’ Paul Ngobeni in Mkhwebane’s high-profile cases

I will testify

Mkhwebane on Tuesday also denied that she did not want to present her version of the “story” to the committee, but was adamant that this should be done in public during an application for chair, Qubidile Dyantyi, to recuse himself.

She vowed that once again she would play WhatsApp recordings of a desperate Joemat-Petterrson recorded by Skosana and which she claims implicated Dyantyi.

“My husband would be prepared to testify to the committee,” said Mkhwebane.

It was Skosana who lodged criminal charges that Dyantyi as well as ANC Chief Whip, Pemmy Majodina and the late ANC MP Tina Joemat-Petterson each sought a bribe of R200,000 to flip the impeachment vote.

Mkhwebane on Tuesday said she was insisting on launching an application to have Dyantyi removed as chair as he was now “compromised”.

“I want to tell my story about how I investigated CR-17 and the rogue unit and what the judges said in those matters is not true. I was still going to testify. But that is what Tina said; the outcome is predetermined; they want to impeach me”.

She insisted that the Western Cape high court ruling with regard to her suspension by president Cyril Ramaphosa still stood regardless of the fact that the Constitutional Court had found on 13 July that the action had been “lawful and rational”.

Read more in daily Maverick: ConCourt says no bias in Ramaphosa’s suspension of Mkhwebane

Give Fikile Mbalula the cut

Skosana took particular aim at ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula for his recent remarks at the party’s Western Cape conference that Mkhwebane was “erratic and inadequate”.

Referring to the well-known story about Mbalula’s late entry to manhood through delaying his circumcision, Skosana suggested Mbalula was “wet behind the ears” and referred to him as “Mfana Wam” (my child).

“Comrade Tony Yengeni has done a disservice to the nation. He must consider taking Fikile Mbalula back to the mountain. Every three years. that man does not have manners,” Skosana thundered.

In 2008, Mbalula was “abducted” when he was already 37, way past the Xhosa circumcision deadline, by Yengeni who delivered him to Gugulethu expert ingcibi, Maduna Nqabeni.

“You are a clown to me, you are nothing, you are immoral,” Skosana taunted Mbalula “and if you want to make it personal you must come to me and leave the advocate alone”.

He accused Mbalula of having instructed ANC committee members to vote for his wife’s impeachment.

“You spoke about Mkhwebane holding on to her pension, you can take that pension.

“I am sending a warning to him [Mbalula] because I am not scared of him,” the suspended PP’s husband ranted.

Daily Maverick is seeking comment from Mbalula. This will be added once received.

The Joemat-Pettersson tapes

Earlier Skosana said that Joemat-Pettersson had been “a godsender (sic)” while Mkhwebane complained that none of the media houses had played the voice messages which “proved” the criminality.

Skosana raged against the “hearsay” legal argument with regard to Joemat-Pettersson’s implication of other ANC officials.

“All the leaders have those recordings, they talk about hearsay. I am the witness! I was there! I was sitting with her. But people are speaking over me. The police have this thing,” said Skosana.

On a roll, Skosana added that the South African constitution was not “the best in the world, it is a fallacy”.

Much of Tuesday’s press conference hosted by the National Press Club, was a rehash of allegations by Mkhwebane of an “opposition” and ANC “witch hunt” because she had dared to go after a “powerful capitalist executive”.

Filike Mbalula responds

“The buffoonery of spitting vile has gotten into the head of Mr Skhosana, the husband of Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the suspended Public Protector,” Mbalula told Daily Maverick.

“There is nothing impressive in this cheap roughshod to throw bile [at] those who genuinely question the integrity of those who have been given the rare privilege to head our public institutions.

“The statement that I instructed the portfolio committee to impeach Adv Mkhwebane has no basis.

“A litany of representations is in the public domain which called for an inquiry into the fitness of the Adv Mkhwebane to head our Chapter 9 Institution, regrettably by many parties represented in the National Assembly.”

Mbalula said Mkhwebane, as an advocate and therefore an officer of the judiciary, has a constitutional mandate to dispense justice impartially.

“One of the burdens of being an officer of our judiciary is that there is immense expectation to rise above mere mortal status and dispense justice with objectivity that borders on the divine obligation to obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other laws of the Republic.

“When I made the remarks that the Public Protector was erratic and inadequate, I was mindful of the many findings she made and when such were took on review by our courts, including our apex court, were found to be flawed and erroneous.

“As media scrutiny increases and public confidence is eroded by judicial scandals, allegations of bias or partiality would be fatal to public confidence in the judiciary, so cautious restraint is therefore seen as the best road to neutrality.

“Advocate Mkhwebana has in many instances took leave of the eminent realisation that a Chapter 9 institution such the Public Protector constitutes a common space accessible to all, a place where people can peacefully resolve their conflicts, a place where words, rules and ideas replace fists, weapons and violence.”

Mbalula said the Office of the Public Protector must be seen as a neutral actor in the interests of addressing society’s problems, judicial transformation and the rule of law.

“Unfortunately, many South Africans are not convinced that the Adv Mkhwebane is up to this task.

“Mr Skhosana has ventured to parade himself as a vessel of tested wisdom on matters of my passage to manhood.

“I have no affinity to engage with this cheap roughshod templated as knowledge in matters of manhood, at least not from Mr Skhosana, a knowledge pauper on ‘ukoluka’ for he hasn’t set his foot on those grounds.” DM

This story was updated on 18 July 2023 at 9.07pm to include Filike Mbalula’s response.

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Politics

I will testify

Give Fikile Mbalula the cut

The Joemat-Pettersson tapes

Filike Mbalula responds