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Mpofu claims revelation of Mkhwebane’s R147m in legal bills is ‘sensationalist’

Mpofu claims revelation of Mkhwebane’s R147m in legal bills is ‘sensationalist’
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and her legal counsel advocate Dali Mpofu SC. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)
Marianne Thamm
By Marianne Thamm
8 Sep 2022
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Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has run up R147-million in legal fees defending various challenges to her reports during her term of office.

After a break of a week and a bit, the Section 194 impeachment inquiry into the fitness of suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to hold office kicked off on Thursday with a tally of the legal costs her office ran up from October 2016 to 2022.

Evidence leader, advocate Nazreen Bawa, set out how, excluding former public protector Thuli Madonsela’s six months in office until October 2016, 412 reports had been produced by the office. Of those, 37 had been set aside with 47 still pending before the courts.

Bawa said the total cost in public funds for “consulting and professional fees” was R158-million, of which R147-million was splurged on “legal fees” alone.

Read in Daily Maverick: “Mkhwebane viewed politically sensitive Ramaphosa investigation as ‘a chess game’ – former COO Baloyi”

Previously the committee heard that Mkhwebane had appointed fugitive attorney Paul Ngobeni – disbarred in the US – as an adviser. Evidence was that Ngobeni had been paid R96,000 to provide a legal opinion to Mkhwebane with regard to her investigation of the “CR17” campaign.

Bawa also previously pointed out that invoices indicated Ngobeni had also been paid to pen articles attacking former finance minister Tito Mboweni and former state security minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Dube, who were viewed as “enemies” of Mkhwebane.

Read in Daily Maverick: “Mkhwebane fails in last-ditch ConCourt bid, while MPs hear more about her alleged abuse of power”

Returning to give evidence on Thursday was legal services manager Muntu Sitole, who earlier testified that opinions given by Ngobeni to the Public Protector had been pasted into documents with the letterhead of Seanego Attorneys, a practice he agreed was unusual.

Bawa, breaking down some of the costs, informed the committee that R158-million had been spent on “consulting and professional fees” between 2016/17 and 2022, R147-million of which consisted of expenditure on “legal fees”.



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The committee heard that the tally for Mkhwebane’s “reserve bank” litigation was more than R140-million and involved six law firms and several different legal representatives.

The Vrede Dairy matter cost the public R5-million and Litigation in the DA/Casac matter totalled R5-million.

Mkhwebane’s challenges to her impeachment and the rules of the inquiry tally R15-million.

Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and her legal counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)



Bawa said the committee would later receive a detailed breakdown to show the “larger components” of the R147-million, including which legal firms might have benefited.

Read in Daily Maverick: “‘Be my eyes and ears’, former Public Protector Mkhwebane told her head of security”

Advocate Dali Mpofu, representing Mkhwebane, objected to the flighting of the legal bill his client had run up, saying this was “directed at an appetite for sensationalism”.

Also, it was “unwarranted”, complained Mpofu, adding that the legal fees matter would present a “skewed picture” as no one was focusing on money spent on legal fees by Parliament or the President.

Read in Daily Maverick: “Vrede Dairy Scandal – Mkhwebane did more in one year than Madonsela in four, claims Mpofu”

Sitole has been a reluctant witness who has been careful not to criticise Mkhwebane. Asked by Mpofu whether he regarded Mkhwebane’s legal expenses as “wasteful and fruitless”, he replied: “No.”

The  inquiry continues. DM

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