Mkhwebane blames judicial officers of Indian descent for her misfortunes in court

CAPE TOWN - Former Public Protector turned Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has lashed out at judicial officers of Indian descent for her misfortunes in the country’s courts.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed what it termed a frivolous appeal against a 2022 Western Cape High Court ruling related to her impeachment inquiry, saying it was now moot.

But Mkhwebane said that SCA Judge Visvanathan Ponnan was arrogant and dismissive during proceedings in August, underscoring the challenges and biases she's faced primarily by those of Indian heritage.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court of Appeal slammed Mkhwebane for persisting with an appeal, when given the passage of time, it’s now constitutionally impossible for her to be reinstated as the Public Protector.

It further said that there was no public benefit for the court to make judicial pronouncements on Parliament’s Section 194 inquiry which led to Mkhwebane's impeachment a year ago.

The court has been critical of advocate Dali Mpofu's persistence in arguing the matter in which Mkhwebane had sought the removal of the chairperson of the inquiry, former African National Congress (ANC) MP, Richard Dyantyi, and Democratic Alliance (DA) MP, Kevin Mileham, accusing them of bias.

While Judge Ponnan said that the application was "dead on arrival", Mkhwebane’s taken to social media to slam him and others involved in her impeachment.

In her post, Mkhwebane said that her ongoing struggle against her impeachment had consistently involved figures predominantly of Indian descent, singling out the late Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, the evidence leader in her impeachment inquiry, Cape Town advocate, Nazreen Bawa, Parliament’s chief legal advisor, advocate Zuraya Adhikarie, and parliamentary legal advisor, Fatima Ebrahim.