CASAC seeks to correct 'anomaly' that allows impeached individuals to become MPs

CAPE TOWN - The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) says it will make a submission to Parliament next year on allowing impeached individuals to become parliamentarians. 

The past year has seen Parliament grapple with the implications of having not just one, but two, impeached public office bearers carving out new careers as politicians. 

In the new year, Parliament’s constitutional review committee will be faced with considering what many legal commentators believe to be a legal anomaly on impeachments. 

In an ironic twist of constitutional processes, Parliament has been confronted by the ramifications of its own actions – impeaching the first head of a Chapter 9 institution in September 2023, and then two judges in February.  

In March, former EFF MP and Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, scuppered the interviewing process for a deputy Public Protector over her refusal to recuse herself over a conflict of interest. 

Just months later, Parliament had to grapple with the implication of an impeached judge president, John Hlope, being designated to serve on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which interviews and recommends candidates for the bench. 

That matter has ended up in court, and a legal review is pending in the new year.

CASAC's executive director, Lawson Naidoo, is advocating for change, saying the Constitution does not allow an impeached president to hold public office again. 

"Unfortunately, there's no similar provision for impeached judges, or impeached heads of Chapter 9 institutions, and I believe that’s an anomaly that needs to be corrected, and CASAC will certainly be making a submission to Parliament’s constitutional review committee to consider this matter."

While Mkhwebane has since quit as an MP, Hlophe has risen through the MK Party's ranks to the official opposition's parliamentary leader.