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Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane at a parliamentary meeting in October 2019.
PHOTO: Jan Gerber, News24
- Parliament can go ahead with its process to remove public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, a legal opinion reads.
- Spokeswoman Thandi Modise is reviewing the appointment of a three-person panel to make sure it doesn’t jeopardize the process.
- This panel must decide whether there is a prima facie case for Mkhwebane’s removal.
Parliament can go ahead with its proceedings to remove the public protector Busisiwe Mkwhebane, even before the court rules on her request to stop the proceedings.
This according to a legal opinion obtained by Parliament.
During Thursday’s meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee, Chief Prosecutor Natasha Mazzone asked for an update on the deportation process and whether she could continue, pending the outcome of Mkhwebane’s court application.
The process is currently in the phase where the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, must appoint an independent three-person panel to decide whether there is a prima facie case for the removal of the head of Chapter 9.
In June, Modise sent letters of invitation to three candidates to be on the panel. The three candidates were not identified.
Modise told the Scheduling Committee that he had to see the panel’s appointment again.
She said:
What delayed the appointment of the panel is that we had to be very thorough: we analyze all the candidates and make sure that no candidate is used to discredit the results that the panel arrives at.
He said that some candidates had indicated that they were involved in matters that could have something to do with the Public Protector.
Modise said she had a list of candidates before her.
Judicial battle
The secretary of the National Assembly, Masibulele Xaso, said they had obtained a legal opinion.
“We have been informed that we do not need to wait for the court case to conclude, unless the court directs us to delay the process,” Xaso said.
The arguments of Mkhwebane’s application were heard in August in the Western Cape Superior Court and the ruling reserved.
The court battle began in February, after Mkhwebane submitted an urgent offer seeking an injunction to halt the parliamentary process to remove her from office, which was launched with Modise’s approval of a motion by the prosecutor. This, after the National Assembly approved the rules for said process, also called impeachment, in December.
This is Part A of Mkhwebane’s application.
In Part B, he asks the court to set aside the Chapter 9 rules for the removal of heads of institutions, such as the Public Protector, which the National Assembly adopted in December, and declare unconstitutional and invalid.
Part B will be heard on November 24 and 25, if the presiding judge agrees with these dates.
Later on Thursday afternoon, Mkhwebane and his team were expected to appear before the Justice Portfolio Committee to report on Q4 2019-20 and Q1 2020-21.
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