Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane quietly returned to work at the start of April, amid a hail of attacks from detractors who want her out of office before her term as Public Protector expires.
When is the Busisiwe Mkhwebane fitness inquiry?
In a momentous move by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that sent ripples through factions of the ANC, the National Assembly, chaired by Speaker Thandi Modise, greenlit an inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.
The massive win for the DA was helped by a unanimous vote of approval from the ruling party, a decision that has since caused further splits within the ANC’s ranks.
This week, Parliament formed a 26-member committee composed of MPs from 14 political parties to initiate the impeachment process.
Of these, 11 committee members will be vested with voting powers, while the rest “will be non-voting members.”
“The committee’s report must contain findings, recommendations and reasons, and must be scheduled for consideration and debate with appropriate urgency.” Parly spokesperson Moloto Mothapo revealed.
Due to the proportional representation method of Parliament’s democracy, the ANC takes the lion share of the voting power with seven members, while the DA, EFF, IFP and FF Plus sharing one member with voting power each.
At this time, no timelines have been set on when the committee is expected to conclude its work.
Public Protector shows hecklers her career stats
Meanwhile, Mkhwebane, who is facing a multitude of court cases, including a career-threatening perjury charge, has quietly resumed her work since her return from a month-long hiatus.
On Friday, the Public Protector silently updated her Twitter profile picture, which was an infographic detailing all the work she has accomplished since her appointment in October 2016.
Happy #fridaymorning Fellow South Africans
— Kim Heller (@kimheller3) April 9, 2021
Let’s appreciate the sterling work being done by our @PublicProtector @AdvBMkhwebane
The facts speak for themselves pic.twitter.com/q1rBCczZge
From the stats which are unaudited, Mkhwebane has, at least by virtue of the numbers we’ve seen, been putting in a lot of work. In her tenure, the Public Protector has finalised 52 638 cases from a caseload of 66 882, which is a success rate of 78.7%
In a span of five years, she’s released 274 investigation reports, eight of which have been successfully defended in court. However, the chink in her career stats lies in the 14-some cases that were set aside.
Mkhwebane has faced harsh criticism from judges on her conduct in high profile cases such as the Absa-Bankorp scandal, the Estina dairy farm case and the infamous CR17 bank statements.
If she will see it through till the end, is a question that lingers on, clouding all of the successes she’s achieved.