ANC, DA blame Mkhwebane for Deputy PP appointment delay
Last month, Mkhwebane refused to recuse herself after declaring her relationship to two of the candidates being interviewed.
FILE: Former Economic Freedom Fighters member of Parliament and former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on 20 October 2023. Picture: Supplied/@ParliamentofRSA/X
CAPE TOWN - The African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA) have sought to blame former Public Protector turned Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member of Parliament Busisiwe Mkhwebane for having to call off deliberations on filling the post of Deputy Public Protector.
Last month, Mkhwebane refused to recuse herself after declaring her relationship to two of the candidates being interviewed.
On Tuesday, she used court rulings that went against her during her impeachment inquiry in Parliament to justify why it wasn’t necessary for her to do so - and said Parliament’s legal opinion on the potential of conflict in this instance is biased.
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Seven candidates flew to Cape Town for their interviews - one a lawyer who is representing Mkhwebane pro bono in a human rights matter, and another an employee of the Office of the Public Protector whom Mkhwebane once tried to fire.
Mkhwebane has however hit back at the DA and ANC, saying the Western High Court did not find it necessary for their members to recuse themselves from her impeachment inquiry when she raised a conflict of interest.
"The court held that recusals should be based on concrete evidence of bias rather than speculative perceptions."
This includes Mkhwebane’s complaint against the chairperson of her impeachment inquiry Richard Dyantyi who on Tuesday said any wasteful expenditure incurred by Parliament in this process is her fault.
"Our work was derailed, and I want to put an emphasis on that, on the particular conduct on one member because that has to be recorded."
Parliament will now have to redo the entire process of calling for nominations and applications for the job left vacant following the appointment of Kholeka Gcaleka as the Public Protector.