Busisiwe Mkhwebane receives yet another drubbing
Court sets aside Vrede farm report
Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has received another judicial smackdown, with the high court in Pretoria finding that she either blatantly disregarded her constitutional duties or merely had a "concerning lack of understanding" of them during her investigation into the Gupta-linked Vrede dairy farm matter. The court reviewed and set aside the report on the dairy farm released by Mkhwebane in 2018, describing it as "unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid". This follows separate applications brought by the DA and the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac) after her report was described as a whitewash. The court went further to declare that in investigating and reporting on the matter, Mkhwebane had failed in her duties under the Public Protector Act and the constitution. A total of R220m in grants meant for emerging black farmers was misappropriated from the Free State government in the establishment of Vrede dairy farm. Leaked e-mails showed that the Gupta fam...
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