NEWS ANALYSIS: Public protector spats reach boiling point
Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s stand-offs with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and state security minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba could end up in court
The stand-off between public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, state security minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan over Mkhwebane’s SA Revenue Service (Sars) “rogue unit” investigation has reached boiling point — with all three threatening or considering legal action over the far-reaching probe. Mkhwebane last week used her office’s legal powers to demand that Gordhan answer 12 questions, predominantly linked to his tenure as Sars commissioner, by next Tuesday. Should he fail to do, she said he will potentially be guilty of an offence under the Public Protector Act. Gordhan’s lawyers are in turn understood to have raised objections to this, while his spokesperson Adrian Lackay described Mkhwebane’s probe as “another example of a fight-back campaign to disrupt efforts to uncover and prosecute instances of malfeasance and corruption in various entities of government”. Mkhwebane’s office has dismissed these accusations and insists her investigati...
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