Cape Town - Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal representative advocate Dali Mpofu SC has said he may apply for the “recusal or removal” of Parliament’s Section 194 Inquiry committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi.
Mpofu accused Dyantyi of acting with National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in a bid to influence the outcome of the case in the Western Cape High Court, where Mkhwebane is challenging her suspension by the president.
In July, Mkhwebane approached the High Court in a bid to overturn her suspension, which Mpofu said was triggered by a letter written by Mapisa-Nqakula in March this year.
Mkhwebane had earlier this year approached the Constitutional Court with an application for a rescission of its earlier judgment, which upheld the separation of powers arguments regarding the appointment of a judge to the Section 194 independent panel.
On Wednesday, the apex court dismissed the application and slapped her with a personal costs order.
On Friday, Mpofu spent the first 30 minutes of the hearings addressing the ConCourt’s ruling and said Mkhwebane had not sought a “rescission of her rescission” but merely wanted the apex court to “reconsider” its decision.
Responding, Dyantyi said neither he nor the committee had a predetermined outcome for the inquiry and that he had approached the Western Cape High Court to supply an affidavit with regard to an application by Mkhwebane, naming him a respondent.
He said the affidavit dealt with a factual matter, not with the merits before the committee.
“I do not believe the filing of the affidavit or involvement in the litigation started by the public protector constitutes bias on my part.
My involvement in the litigation was occasioned by the PP herself,” he said.
Meanwhile, when the hearings got under way, the 14th witness, PPSA legal services manager Muntu Sithole, testified that Paul Ngobeni, a former adviser to Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, and a “fugitive of justice” in the US had advised Mkhwebane to sue the State over insufficient funding.
Documents and invoices produced at the inquiry further revealed Mkhwebane paid Ngobeni R87000 to write an opinion article criticising former finance minister Tito Mboweni following the SARB/CIEX report.
Advocate Nazreen Bawa SC, one of the evidence leaders, produced documents showing Ngobeni was paid by Mkhwebane to draft articles defending her from what she saw as “political attacks” and these were published on an online news website.
Bawa said Ngobeni provided a “legal opinion” related to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 investigation and that this opinion was then transferred on to the letterhead of Seanego Attorneys.
Questioned about this incident, Sithole agreed that this was not normal as advocates normally provide their own opinions on their own letterheads.
Sithole said he neither met nor spoke to Ngobeni in person and confirmed that Ngobeni was not a member of the Bar or a senior counsel, he just provided opinions.
Sithole will return to the stand on Thursday when the hearings resume.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za