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Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane Photo: DAILY SUN
Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane took a “sabbatical to rest a bit,” her office said in a brief statement Monday.
“Such license is provided for in the terms and conditions applicable to the position of Public Protector,” said spokesperson Oupa Segalwe.
He said the Deputy Public Protector, defender Kholeka Gcaleka, will act as Public Protector while Mkhwebane is on leave, from January 15 to March 31, 2021.
Segalwe said that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, gave the green light to Mkhwebane.
Mkhwebane faces a parliamentary impeachment inquiry, following a district attorney’s motion that relies, in large part, on the devastating judgments brought against her in the Reserve Bank and Estina cases.
He has approached the Constitutional Court in one last urgent attempt to stop the possible impeachment process.
This after the Western Cape Superior Court dismissed her request to prevent National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise from following the 17-stage process that could result in an investigation into her fitness for office.
Subsequently, the court rejected Mkhwebane’s offer to appeal that decision.
Mkhwebane previously compared the rules to the “Sobukwe clause”, the apartheid-era legislation used to arbitrarily extend the imprisonment of PAC leader Robert Sobukwe, and insisted they were intended solely “for the elimination of Mkhwebane.”
