Cape Town - The inquiry into the fitness of suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to hold office was a process that did not have predetermined outcomes, chairperson of the Section194 Committee Qubudile Dyantyi said on Monday.
Speaking on the first day of the hearings, Dyantyi said he had always made the point that “none of us must have any briefcase outcomes”.
“Our guiding compass is fairness and rationality of this process.
“We would have said before and I want to repeat that we are only influenced by evidence and facts in front of us and rigorous scrutiny of evidence and facts, nothing else,” Dyantyi said.
The committee chairperson also said they were engaged in an exercise on accountability.
“What we are doing is an exercise to examine the fitness to hold the office of the public protector.”
Dyantyi said, however, they did so with possibilities of exonerating Mkhwebane or making an adverse finding.
“We ask throughout the process for objectivity,” Dyantyi said.
Nazreen Bawa, one of the inquiry’s leaders of evidence, said the committee was the first of its kind in South Africa in the sense that it was sailing in uncharted waters.
“Even though this is a maiden journey, it is not without beacons, lighthouse and frequent buoys to guide its route.
“It is also not without a map and navigation system with which to steer its course,” Bawa said.
She told the MPs it was neither a court of law, quasi judicial process nor an adversarial process.
“These are not criminal proceedings. There is no accused. There is no one to plead guilty or innocent.”
Bawa also said the committee did not have final decision-making powers.
“That power rests with the National Assembly that adopted the rules to create the committee to precisely deal with the process of removal of the public protector by providing procedures for such a removal,” she said.
Bawa told the MPS that the committee would deal with four charges arising from the motion that was tabled by DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone two years ago on the removal of Mkhwebane on the grounds of alleged incompetence and/or misconduct.
Mkhwebane’s legal representative Dali Mpofu said the impeachment of Mkhwebane was a novelty.
However, Mpofu said the Constitution had been serially violated because “there was a lot of zeal and making sure we are here by hook or crook, and mostly by crook”.
He also said Mkhwebane and her legal team were there to participate in the proceedings.
“Our participation is, however, under protest because of major constitutional violations. But we are here and we are going to participate nevertheless because we represent a law-abiding citizen and the public protector.
“She has always made it clear that she wants the opportunity to assure this committee and National Assembly and indeed the nation that she is fit and proper, willing and able to discharge her duties as the public protector.
“She has been accused of all sorts of things, including the so-called Stalingrad. That is a strange accusation. The irony is that every time she raised concerns about this process (she) has been proven right in every turn,” Mpofu said.
Cape Times