- Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has submitted reasons to the Presidency to say why President Cyril Ramaphosa shouldn't suspend her.
- The judgment in her court application to interdict her suspension has not yet been delivered.
- She previously argued that Ramaphosa was conflicted and can't suspend her.
Under-pressure Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has submitted representations on why President Cyril Ramaphosa shouldn't suspend her, pending Parliament's process to impeach her.
The deadline for the submissions was on Thursday.
"The Public Protector has complied with the agreed deadline of 26 May and the president will now give due consideration to the submission," a Presidency statement indicated.
"The president made this request to the Public Protector in March 2022, following confirmation from the speaker of the National Assembly that the Section 194 Committee had resolved to continue with its consideration of the motion for the removal of the Public Protector."
Section 194 of the Constitution empowers the president to suspend a Chapter 9 head, like the Public Protector, if Parliament starts removal proceedings.
After Ramaphosa wrote to Mkhwebane asking for the reasons, her lawyers wrote that they had been instructed to send the president "this urgent response in the form of a preliminary objection based on your actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflict of interest".
The letter continued:
Mkhwebane is fighting for an interdict in the Western Cape High Court to prevent her suspension and to stop the impeachment process.
Last week, a full Bench heard arguments in the interdict application. The judgment has not yet been delivered.
Her arguments in the court case followed a similar tack.
The interdicts are the first part of her application. The second part asks the court to declare unlawful the letter National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula wrote to Ramaphosa to inform him that Parliament was continuing with the process.
Mkhwebane also asked the Constitutional Court to rescind a decision not to hear her rescission application of the ruling that effectively gave Parliament the go-ahead for the impeachment process.
According to her, Ramaphosa can't suspend her because of a conflict of interest, brought about by the fact that she is investigating cases against him.
These investigations related to:
- Bosasa;
- judicial capture, after a complaint laid by EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu;
- former defence minister (now speaker) Mapisa-Nqakula's ferrying of ANC members on an SANDF plane to Zimbabwe - a probe that started after a complaint laid by ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula; and
- Ramaphosa's statement at an ANC meeting that he knows the ANC has used state funds - a probe that stems from a complaint lodged by ANC MP Mervyn Dirks.
Advocate Karrisha Pillay, SC, on behalf of Ramaphosa, told the court last week that the first question the court would ask is whether the Public Protector made out a case that there was a conflict between Ramaphosa's personal interests and his official responsibilities as the president.
"My submission is, on all four [of] those instances, contrary to what the Public Protector says, I will demonstrate to the court that there is no clash between official duties versus personal private interests," she said.
Meanwhile, unless Mkwhebane's interdict succeeds, Parliament will start its impeachment hearings on 11 July.
Four days have been set aside for Mkhwebane's appearance before the committee, from 26 to 29 July.
Parliament appointed a formidable evidence leader in advocate Nazreen Bawa SC, who will be supported by advocate Ncumisa Mayosi.
Bawa is experienced as an evidence leader.
She fulfilled this role in the inquiry into disgraced NPA bosses, advocates Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi, and their fitness to hold office, which Justice Yvonne Mokgoro chaired.
She was also evidence leader in an inquiry into policing in Khayelitsha.
The impeachment process is expected to conclude by the end of September.
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