The Public Protector (OB), adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane, this week submitted an application against the chairman of the parliamentary committee, which must determine whether she is suitable for her position, in the hope that he will withdraw from the investigation.
The application comes barely two weeks before Qubudile Dyantyi has to complete his work in this regard.
The highest court in the country also upheld Mkhwebane’s suspension on Thursday.
Dyantyi says he received the application against him and has already informed the suspended OB’s lawyers that he will respond to it in writing by next Friday.
Mkhwebane’s grounds for the withdrawal application concern the alleged interaction between her husband, David Skosana, and the late Tina Joemat-Pettersson. Joemat-Pettersson died amid allegations that she was one of three members of parliament who tried to extort R600 000 from Skosana so that the investigation against his wife would be dropped.
The allegations are currently being investigated by parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests.
The application also points to other grounds for Dyantyi’s withdrawal from the committee, including allegations of bribery, corruption and extortion, the fact that Dyantyi is currently subject to a pending investigation by the parliament’s ethics committee and a pending police investigation, as well as that the committee, therefore Dyantyi, continues his investigation into Mkhwebane despite her lack of legal representation.
Dyantyi confirmed that he is aware of the allegations against him.
Meanwhile, the section 194 committee is still waiting for the summary of evidence in the investigation into Mkhwebane’s competence.
“The committee also noticed that Mkhwebane did not indicate whether she wanted to submit a closing argument or a written closing statement,” the committee said in a statement.
Dyantyi indicated earlier that he nevertheless expects the committee’s work regarding Mkhwebane’s competence to be completed by 28 July.
