EDITORIAL: Please eject public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane
The public protector has turned an office that was a beacon of light during Thuli Madonsela’s tenure into a national embarrassment
Who is advising public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane? That she doesn’t know what she’s doing is almost beyond dispute, with the number of unfavourable court judgments against her piling up. But surely she must be surrounded by a team well-versed in the law and the constitution, and questions need to be asked about what is going on at Public Protector House in Pretoria. This week’s court judgment on her Vrede dairy farm report is just the latest reason to raise questions. The high court in Pretoria reviewed and set aside the 2018 report. Judge Ronel Tolmay didn’t exactly mince her words, describing it as “unlawful, unconstitutional and invalid”. The court also found that Mkhwebane had failed in her duties and violated the Public Protector Act and the constitution. Tolmay found there were a number of errors in law in the report and that Mkhwebane had either blatantly disregarded her constitutional duties or merely didn’t understand them.
In 2018, the same court set as...
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