Cape Town - Members of Parliament’s inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office are concerned that the process has taken longer than expected and some have laid the blame for delays at the feet of Mkhwebane’s legal team.
The process was originally meant to have concluded at the end of this month, but has been interrupted by breaks to allow Mkhwebane to lodge applications in court to scrap the hearings.
The MPs’ complaints follow the recusal application lodged by Mkhwebane’s lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu, last week against committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi (ANC) and member Kevin Mileham (DA).
On Wednesday, Mpofu said he had 12 grounds for Dyantyi’s recusal, and that Mileham should recuse himself from the committee based on the fact that he was married to DA MP Natasha Mazzone, who brought the motion to impeach Mkhwebane to Parliament in the first place.
During a sometimes stormy three-hour meeting on Friday, several MPs complained about the constant delays in the committee’s work.
DA MP Benedicta van Minnen said she was concerned that the process was running behind schedule, and the last thing they wanted was to sit endlessly and never reach a conclusion.
GOOD Party committee member Brett Herron said that the committee’s duty was to ensure that the process was fair and that whatever decision was made on the recusal issue should withstand scrutiny and have the confidence of the public.
Committee members also requested an investigation into Mpofu’s conduct during the September 13 hearing where they alleged he threatened Dyantyi.
Dyantyi said he would table a comprehensive response to all the grounds raised in the application.
“There is a need to respond to each of the 12 grounds in detail, paragraph by paragraph, in a very thorough way. Our response is going to be so thorough to demonstrate how these facts matter.”
He told members that the committee would reconvene in the first week of October.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za