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Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and the EFF have approached the high court seeking direct authorization to appeal after the previous ruling found that the Chapter 9 institution had no jurisdiction to investigate the funding of President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2017 in the ANC leadership race.
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Image: @PublicProtector / Twitter
JOHANNESBURG – Lawyers representing the public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane told the Constitutional Court on Thursday that the Pretoria High Court was wrong in ruling that it had no jurisdiction to investigate CR17 campaign funding.
Mkhwebane and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have turned to the higher court seeking direct authorization to appeal after the previous ruling found that the Chapter 9 institution had no jurisdiction to investigate the funding of President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2017 in the race for the African National Congress’ (ANC) since it involved private donations.
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Lawyer Muzi Sikhakhane argued that Ramaphosa was the vice president of the country at the time and, by virtue of that, funding was part of the definition of state affairs contained in the Constitution regarding the scope of the Public Protector’s investigations.
“And we are saying that the conduct of the vice president who was trying to become president of the country is a matter within the definition of state affairs,” Sikhakhane said.
“And we maintain that the notion that it was a matter related to the financing of political parties is immediately dispelled by the ANC statement that said it was not about donations to the ANC,” he added.
Sikhakhane further stated that the Constitutional Court should grant direct authorization to appeal, as the matter concerned the scope of the constitutional functions and the responsibility of the President and the Public Protector.
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