Mkhwebane calls her first witness

SA Roadies Association (Sara) head Freddie Nyathela said on Wednesday he had no personal knowledge of matters linked to charges suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is facing at parliament’s section 194 committee proceedings. 

“My being here was to present about our experience with the work of public protector [Mkhwebane] ... what she did for us and our young people. In terms of these other issues, the Reserve Bank and all of that ... those are other issues,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nyathela sang Mkhwebane’s praises for reports she wrote which resulted in Sara securing funding from the department of sport, arts & culture for operational expenses and renovations to its central Johannesburg training centre.

She had also “vindicated” Sara’s complaint against the National Arts Council (NAC) and its policy, which Nyathela said permitted wholesale looting by officials.

Evidence leader Nazreen Bawa said she wanted to assess where his evidence fitted in and read out most of the charges.

Responding, he said he knew little about them, other than what he had read in newspapers or seen on television. He said he could only comment on a charge of incompetence.

“I definitely dispute that, based on our experience. After going through 11 years of no intervention and assistance, she comes in, and within six months, what took the office of the public protector 11 years, is resolved,” Nyathela said.

But Bawa then took him through documents to show Mkhwebane’s predecessors had dealt with the funding issue and had overseen the signing of two settlement agreements.

Bawa then took Nyathela through each of the cases he lodged with the office of the public protector and asked him how he would respond if it was suggested he was a “persistent complainer”.

“It’s our office. It’s for us. If we had financial muscles, we would have taken this department to court — and won. We would have taken them to the highest court because this is abuse of power, it is trampling on our constitutional rights and the bill of rights,” he said.

Questioned by the committee, Nyathela insisted that once Mkhwebane took office “things changed for the better for us”.

The inquiry continues on Thursday.

TimesLIVE